


Why Does It Feel Like I Magically Transported In An Anime?

by orphan_account



Category: Ben 10 Series, Fairy Tail
Genre: Aliens, Anodite Ben Tennyson, Ben Tennyson in Fairy Tail, Ben takes care of Baby Necrofriggian, Crossover, F/M, Flashbacks & Snippets, Gen, Magic, Poor attempts at humor, Terrible writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 46,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25906612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Ben was in Mr. Smoothie with Jack "Nippy" Tennyson the Necrofriggian/Anodite Baby when an explosion occur and he decides to investigate, needless to say it changes his whole life.
Relationships: Ben Tennyson/Julie Yamamoto, Ben Tennyson/Mira Jane Stauss, Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser, Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Kudos: 11





	1. Another World?

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve always want to write Anodite! Ben but I have difficulty doing it with the cannon storyline, many thing will change such as the name of alien because Gwen will never ever name her aliens using puns like Ben and I also want to do a crossover with Fairy Tail ever since I read the Ultimate Fairy but Ben with the watch with Ultimate transformation is already done and he/she has done a good job, I just hope that he/she’ll continue his/her work on it, anyways I was like why not just combine the two and just write snippets or flashbacks about his life back on Gwen 10 Universe. 
> 
> Also I won't be changing the name of Ben's alien just for convenience sake and I also made some adjustments on the storyline, and took inspiration to other Anodite! Ben fanfic. 
> 
> Thanks for reading.

"Hmm, Chocolate and Carrot Flavor!" A brown haired green eyed teen gushed as he slurped said smoothie, his companion, a baby necrofriggian was beside him happily mimicking his guardian.

"They just know how to mix them." He sighed happily as he check his phone for time. The baby necrofriggian purr in agreement and happily flap it's wings.

"Break's over Jack. Let's go back to the headquarters." The teen scooped the smaller one in his arm, his backpack already in his shoulders. Alien activities may be low now but it never hurts to be prepared at all times so they have seminar every Saturday.

Ben was just about to drive away with Jack in his arms when a rather large explosion sent flying debris in their direction. The debris were instantly cover by green glow and freeze mid air before falling roughly in the asphalt. Ben's eyes turn normal and he turn to see a couple of men in medieval knight clothing holding what look like stolen alien tech.

"Forever Knights, I should have known they're the only one stupid enough to make such a commotion in front of a Mr. Smoothie." He felt himself sigh and turn to his companion. "Let's go Jack, it's Hero Time."

The baby necrofriggian made a noise of agreement and spread it's wings and went ahead. Ben park his Tenn-speed near the trees of the house that was under attack and place a protective barrier around it just-in-case before following his companion who already manage to freeze quite a few Forever Knights.

" **Awakatelo Foligeto**!" Plants all around the small house came to life and started attacking the Forever Knights. " **Sinnyu Invisibus**!" He launch a couple of big rocks that were from the initial explosion and aim it at the gathering Forever Knights that planned to attack Jack simultaneously with their guns.

Ben perform a flip and landed at the center of the commotion, making sure Jack was very well out of range of the spell he raised his hands well above his head and yelled, " **Statuea**!" and a circle of thin constant mana flow from the ball that was in his hand, anyone who were hit by the waves froze in place and he hastily made their hand clasp behind their backs and made a mana handcuff for each. Lowering his hands Ben sighed, crossing his arms at the self-proclaimed knights.

"You guys just never learned." He turn to the sound of footsteps, it was a short middle-aged man in a lab coat and large framed glasses.

"Oh, Thank you! Thank you young man!" The short man patted his waist (the highest that he can reach), "Can i bother you just a bit more young man?" Ben turned to Jack who shrugged and turn back to the short man, "Sure, what do you need me to do Sir...?" "Edward, Edward Lane. I just need help in moving that machine." The short man, Edward, pointed at the large machine in the fairly intact garage.

"Is that what they're after? What does it do?" Ben asked as he near the machine and his whole eyes including the sclera glow green and the same green glow surround the monstrosity lifting it from the ground and following him as he leave the garage. "It might be, it is my lifework, a machine which can take you in another worlds, not just dimension and parallel universes!" The man gushed. "It will put humans into higher level in technology I tell you! So far I have manage to put 7,052 options on it. Oh just put it there in the sidewalk, my escort should come by now any minute."

Ben did as told, he put the machine down right next to his beloved Tenn-speed as the man continue to narrate about all the hardship he face in making the so called 'World-Hopping machine.' which was apparently solar-powered and he planned to named 'World Hopper' for simplicity's sake. Ben stared at the monitor which contain some IT stuff he was not that much familiar with despite learning some techy stuff with Asmuth himself, the creator of Omnitrix - his cousin's beloved alien watch. "W-2617-FT." the header read, it seems to be one of the world that Edward talks about.

Ben snap his head from the screen when Jack suddenly start whining, his wings was caught in some wiring.

"Hang on, Nippy." He told his nephew (since Jack was technically Gwen's child) and went to unlodged him.

"-nd it will be the most outstanding machine in the science fair for the whole universe I tell you!" "Just a little bit more, dearie." He map his hand through the complicated set of wires and after some time managed to free the baby necrofriggian, Ben was too distracted by the happy chirping of his companion to notice that he accidentally unplugged the safety pin in his haste to free Jack.

"-it will be the talk all over the universe, young man, it will be th---." The man was cut off by a bright blue glow which lasted a few second and when he opened his eyes the kind young man, baby alien, motorbike and his World-Hopper was gone.

"Ah?!"

...

Ben opened his eyes and clutch Jack closer to his chest in panic, they were not on Bellwood anymore.

He immediately went to check for his trusty Tenn-speed and felt himself relaxed when he found it. He let go of Jack and lower his backpack to the ground and went over his books of spells for the very advance tech-book (surprise surprise, even Galvans' like books, for physical copy they say, just-in-case someone managed to bug their tech and delete their hard work) that Asmuth gave him after much pleading.

"Where is it, where is it? Ah!" He pulled out the mini encyclopedia-like book and went through pages as he try to search for the coordinates that were the same as the one in the monitor.

Jack was busy looking around while Daddy search through one of his book that Nippy is to young to understand, Daddy was mumbling some complicated stuff as he press on some buttons and rewire some things. "-he auxiliary, where is it?" Ben muttered to himself as he tried to search for the power switch.

Jack was flying near some bushes when he heard it, some commotion and let out a shrill shriek to warn Daddy of the danger.

"Nippy, just a few more moments love, I'm almost finished here." Daddy dismissed him, Jack felt himself pout, Daddy had never dismiss Nippy like that before! He continue to whine, flying near Daddy's face pulling at his ears. "-nd that's it!" Ben cheered as he turn on the machine and smiled as it whirred to life.

"What is it Nippy?" He asked the baby necrofriggian who he was just batting away a few moments ago. Jack pointed at the direction of the noise just as a hooded woman emerge from the tree flying straight to them at break-neck speed. Ben instinctively went to dodge away from the machine as the creature crashed into it.

"No! The machine!" He shouted in horror, it was damaged severely by the impact. The hooded woman payed him no heed and stood up and jump into the air just as a pink(?) haired teen punched the machine she was on with a flaming(?!) fist. "No!" As the machine caught on fire.

" **Super Theca**." He crossed his hand together and sent a small gust of wind to the machine, just enough to put the fire out.

"Moo-Yeah!" Another voice resounded and Ben turned to see a cow-man with just an underwear and boots swinging around a battle-ax, he(?) seemed to be protecting the blond woman who herself was using a whip to deter another hooded figure and there was also a flying blue cat hovering above, dodging some mana-like beams launch by another hooded figure.

"Yosha! **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack**!" Two sets of whip like flame erupted from the pink haired teen and hit the hooded women who slam on several trees. The blue cat dodged another and Ben made a protective barrier in front of the flying feline and sent a couple of mana beam to hooded man attacking the small creature.

" **Teewat Ligara**!" He hold out a hand to the direction of the hooded woman attacking the blond and send a small whirlwind that spinned the hooded woman and slam her hard enough to knock her out to a tree. "Thank you!" The blond yelled to him and Ben nodded in acknowledgement and turn just enough to see a beam heading straight to his beloved Tenn-speed.

"Oh no you don't! **Hespera Sophian**!" He created a green barrier that surrounded both his Tenn-speed and whatever remained of the World-Hopper. The machine is wrecked enough as it is, destroying his trusty Tenn-speed is going too far. And good thing he cast the protective charm as he did as an enormous torrent of flame came out of the pink-haired teen and sent the woman slamming to the barrier, once the torrent of flames receded the young woman was no longer hooded and was covered by ashed and seem to have been knocked out.

"Jack? Are you alright sweetheart?" He asked the infant that seem to have just finished in helping cow-man with the last hooded figure. Jack purred in response, flying to his Daddy's arms. Ben laughed at the adorable infant before turning to the other people in the forest.

"Hi. I'm Ben. Ben Tennyson, this is Jack Tennyson or Nippy, my child." He introduced himself and Jack, with the latter waving his chubby baby hands to the strangers.

"Child? Anyway, I'm Lucy. That's Natsu," She pointed at the pink haired teen that has his nosed scrunched up and eyeing him weirdly. "Happy." "Aye Sir!" The blue cat replied. "And Taurus, my Celestial Spirit." The cowman nodded to him in acknowledgement.

"Anyone who help Lucy-san is good in my book." The cowman said with a thumbs up before disappearing with a burst of light.

"I adopted Jack." Ben replied to the blond. "And what is a Celestial Spirit?" Lucy look at him confusedly. "You don't know? I thought you were a wizard since you've done magic, though I have no idea what type of magic that is, anyway, a Celestial Spirit are contract spirits which I can summon using keys," She hold up bunch of keys, a few golden ones and silver ones. "Taurus is one of the 12 Zodiac Keys and has contract with me."

"Wizard?" What kind of world did he end up with? Even the magic back from earth ain't that versatile.

"You don't know?" The blue cat, Happy asked as he hover in front of him, Jack was wiggling excitedly in his arms. As soon as he let go of the infant he started flying happily around the blue cat. "I could have swear you just used magic!"

"I did." Ben told them and put his hand to his chin, settling on a thinking pose. "But not like yours it seems. I'm not really from here."

"Is that why you smell weird? Fake?" The pink haired teen, Natsu, asked with a frowned, stepping in front of Lucy.

"Ah, I don't know about that, what do I smell like?" Ben had just taken a bath too.

"Some king of spice," Ah, from the chilly fries. "-chocolate and vegetable, chamomile and forest but they smell artificial."

Must be the Anodite side of him. "Well, you see, I'm not from around here, that-" He pointed at the damaged machine next to his Tenn-sped. "-is what brought me here, I'm not really from anywhere near this town, I'm from another world. I was just about to return back since i happen upon here by accident but the woman you just defeated crash to it and then you set it on fire so..."

Lucy flushed in embarrassment at that, "Oh, I-I'm sorry about that!"

"No it's okay, it's wrecked but salvageable." Ben didn't want to risk using magic to fix it, it might end up more wrecked that it already is, no, he's gonna fix it the old-fashioned way.

"You're from another world you say? That thing-" She discreetly pointed at the lump of metal. "-took you here? In Earthland? So you don't have a place to stay then." She sent the brown haired teen a sympathetic smile. "Must be terrible."

Ben nodded and was about to bid farewell to the other teens when Natsu interrupted, "You can come with us then! To Fairy Tail!"

"That's right!" Happy added. "At least until you can go back to your world!"

Both Natsu and Happy cheered. "Yes, another member!"

"Have you seen how powerful he is, I'm all fired up!"

Jack was dancing in the air with Happy, with the latter talking about things they can do and all the fishes they can eat.

Lucy sweat drop and turn to the other teen. "Sorry, they can be quite handful sometimes." Ben offered her a small understanding smile.

"It's alright, they remind me of myself from before."

"Oh?"

"When I was 10." He told the blond with a smirk making the other release a very unladylike snort.

"They do act like children don't they?" Despite her words though she wore a fond smile. "Anyway they're right you should come with us, the woods here are quite dangerous since it has just been a headquarters for the dark guild."

"Dark guild? Those guys?" Aren't guild like clan of magic users or mercenary? Or at least that's what Ben know from the anime he watch in his (really rare) free time.

"Uhn." Lucy nodded. "They do really terrible stuff like kidnapping, assassination, extortion and the like. The opposite of Fairy Tail our guild-" She showed a pink symbol on her right hand. "-it was our mission to take care of them and hand them to the Magic council."

"I see." Ben nodded in understanding before moving to his bag, Asmuth has given him some prototype to try for convenient storage of large materials, pulling out a box and opening it to reveal a dozen of capsule-like metal. 3 of them are on red signifying that they are use and full, the contents varies from clothes, toiletries, books, tools and tech stuff.

"Please stand back Lucy." He pulled the bag with him before throwing one of the capsule to the charred machine and it enveloping in smoke before vanishing and leaving just the capsule.

"Whoa." Lucy said in awe. "Quite neat."

Ben nodded at her before picking the use capsule and doing the same for his Tenn-speed, there's no use using it when he don't know where to go and the other teens can't fit in it.

"So, where do we turn this guys in?"

...

"I can't believe the destruction you guys cause! Our payment was cut in half!" Lucy whined at the her teammates, crossing her arms in irritation. "How am i gonna pay my rent now?"

"You guys didn't have to give me half of your pay you know." Ben told her. "You can just add this to the rent money." 

"No!" Lucy told the other crossing her hand in an X pattern, you're in a new world with nothing much in your back aside from clothes and books and those tech stuff, even if Fairy Tail takes you in you need some money. I can just always drag Natsu for another mission, my only problem is that they destroy so much that we rarely if ever get the full reward, it's such a waste."

"If you say so." If Ben calculated right then 100 Jewels is equivalent of 1$, Lucy gave him 25,000 Jewels which means he have 250$, Lucy's rent was 700,000 Jewels a month which means he can only pay for food for both himself and Jack but no shelter or at least up until he found a job to support both of them, it might take a while to rebuild the machine.

"Ah! There it is, The Fairy Tail!" It was three story building with the banner of the Fairy Tail symbol the same one on Lucy's hand and Natsu's arm. It radiated warmth and family, like Grandpa Max's RV. The thought of his Grandpa made Ben feel nostalgic, what was Grandpa doing now? Last time Ben check he was with Grandma Verdona. 

"We're back!" Natsu announced, kicking the door and walking in long strides in while Ben stayed near the blond, Jack was flying happily with Happy. There weren't many inside the building that Ben could see, someone on the board, a dancing man with a turban, a chubby man painting a little girl and her father and few others.

"Ah, Natsu, Lucy, Happy, welcome back." The barmaid, a woman with white hair and red dress greeted them. "And who are these with you? New members?" 

"No, is Gramps here, Ben need to talk to him." Just as Natsu finished his question a short old man (even shorter than Edward had been) jump to the counter table next to the barmaid.

"I'm Makarov Dreyar, the master of Fairy Tail." The old man introduced. "Ben Tennyson and this is Jack."

"What is it that you need young man?" The old man, Makarov, asked with a warm smile. t reminds Ben of his Grandpa making him instantly relaxed..

"Ah, well..." He scratch his cheek in nervousness as he sat at the offered seat.

"Ben's not from here." Happy supplied, already having a fish out. "He came from another world via a machine, he was about to return when Natsu slam his opponent to Ben's machine and set it on fire, so Ben can't return home until it's fix!"

"Hey! I didn't slam the woman! I sent her flying! She just so happen to slam on Ben's machine!" Natsu protested making Lucy roll her eyes. "Doesn't change he fact that you set it ablazed!"

"I see, so I take it you have no place to stay then?" Master said understanding. "Well since one of my children are responsible for your predicament I'm willing to offer you the extra room in the back for as long as you need."

"Really? Thank you!" So housing is no longer a problem, he just need a job for their food. "What can you do then? If you can fight then you can come with a team as an unofficial member or if you can cook then I can offer you a job!" 

"My branch of magic is very different from what you guys use." He told Master remembering the short lecture that Lucy told him about types of magic. "But I think I'll be able to hold my own, as for cooking well, it's not really my forte but I do have a couple of cookbooks in my collections."

"Alright then, you can remain our honorary guest but still takes jobs or you can help Mira in managing the bar." He made a motion at the smiling white haired woman.

"Can it be both? I don't think I'll be able to do much jobs until I fully adjusted and I'm quite short on money."

"You can come with us for missions!" Natsu offered with Happy nodding in agreement. "Luce won't mind, right Luce?" Said blond nodded. "It's kinda our fault you're stuck here anyway and from what I've observe you're quite competent!"

"Thanks you guys." 

"Here." Mira hold out a cake and orange juice to him. "Yours and Jack's on the house." He was just about to deny the offer when Mira tutted. "Maa, you can say it's a welcoming gift. It's been a while since I have any help in managing the bar and I'm also quite interested on those cookbook you mention, I mean with you being from another world surely there are some dish we don't have here listed there."

Ben smiled in thanks and they fell into a pleasant chat about his world with the other listening in. 

"There are different kind of flavors, like the one I just had before I stumble here, I think it was chocolate and carrot flavor." Mira giggled at that. "Quite a unique mix."

"Yeah, I think I have some few materials to make a smoothie machine, it's why one of the reason I accepted the offer of learning from Asmuth."

"The creator of the 'Omnitrix' right?" Lucy asked. "Yes, he's a Galvan, a really small alien species but what they lack in size they made up by their knowledge, they're arguably the smartest species in the universe with the species of Brainstorm."

"And the weird smell from you is because you're an 'alien'?" Natsu questioned. "Well, part alien, my Grandma is an Anodite but the rest of my family is human, I just so happen to have a spark."

"And Jack is one too, other than a necro-something something?" Happy asked from where he was playing with both Jack and Plue, another one of Lucy's celestial spirit.

"Necrofriggian." Ben corrected, it was one of the alien species that he remember, after Jack decided to stay with him Ben did a lot of research about Necrofriggian and a lot of lesson on Grandma Verdona about babies with Anodite abilities. "And yeah, he is, though it's still very hard to project it out since he's still an infant."

"Hm, how old is Jack anyway? And is there other of his species?"

"He's about to be 2 actually and he was born with 13 more others from when Big Chill's took over Gwen, the species is actually asexual, I just like to call him a boy because it's more convenient that way, they're neither male or female but they all have children every 80 years, they have really long life-span, and baby necrofriggian are independent at birth, it just so happen that Jack here know he has a spark and stayed with me."

"Shame. I want to dress Jack up too." Mira pouted. "But I think you'll make a really cute boy, oh the clothes you'll wear!" She gushed causing Jack to giggle. "I'll be sure to give the costume to you tomorrow!"

It didn't take long for the guild to close, at 8:00 pm, Mira was the last to leave, apparently other than the Master nobody stayed at the guild overnight. 

"Let's go Nippy. It's bed time."

...

The next day, his second day on the foreign world Ben overslept, he woke up in the afternoon and as soon as he went downstairs from the back he was greeted by a standard bartender costume on the bathroom door, there was also a small sailor outfit on top of it.

'Jacks outfit of the day, and your uniform. I'll send more tomorrow.' The note read making Ben sweat drop(?!).

"Well Jack, looks like you'll be wearing clothes from now on." Jack refused to wear clothes before as his wings very much covered him up and he's asexual so nothing to hide, really but looking at the young necrofriggian now, he seems to like the outfit Mira provided. 

"Let's bath together." He told the infant. Jack chirped happily.

...

When Ben finished his bath, he left for the bar. Mira was there serving a couple of people. 

"Ah. You must be Ben." A dark-blue haired teen greeted him. "I'm Gray. Gray Fullbuster. I've heard from Lucy that Natsu wrecked your way home." He continued to rant about how reckless 'Flame Brain' was and all that stuff but Ben didn't really processed his words as he stare at the other strip down his underwear as he spoke.

"Gray, your clothes." The brown-haired beauty beside the stripped teen.

"GAH?!" Where did they go?!" Gray exclaimed and went away looking for his (somehow) missing clothes. Ben stared after the ice-mage (as he introduced himself earlier) in bewilderment, he didn't even notice he was stripping himself down? 

"Hmph. Men these days. Anyway you're the guy from the other world ain't cha?" The brown-haired beauty ask him, she was hugging a barrel of beer in her bare (save for a bra) torso closely. "I'm Cana Alberona. So how well can you handle your drink?"

"I'm underage." Ben told her bluntly making the other scoff. "Bah! So what? I started to drink when I was 14!"

"Cana!" A voiced from the crowd chastised. "Not everyone likes to drink. Don't pester the poor guy!" It was a messy blue-haired girl in an orange outfit followed by two tall men, one with pony-tailed orange hair and the other with beatle-horn for a hair. 

Ben stared at the three feeling as if he somehow fell in a anime-like universe with the people having bizarre hair color and hair styles, ultra protected body and now the last check on the list was 'Power of Friendship'. 

The blue-haired girl turn to him. "I'm Levy McGarden, this is my teammates, Jet-" She motioned to the orange haired man who salute him."- and Droy. We're the team Shadow Gear."

"I'm Ben Tennyson. This is my child Jack Tennyson." He motioned at the flying baby necrofriggian in sailor outfit next to him.

"We know, I heard from Lu-chan you're from another world, is that true?" Levy questioned her brown eyes twinkling in exitement. "That you're not fully human and is part of some alien species that have innate magical abilities and your magic's different."

Ben nodded at that, she seems to be very enthusiastic upon his confirmation and claps her hand in joy.

"Oh, I'll be more than happy to help you fix your machine, as long as you answer my question and all!" Levy offered. "We can talk about it later?"

Ben, exited at the prospect of someone helping him get back home nodded eagerly. "Sure."

...

And so every late afternoon for the next three days he and Levy (along her entourage) went to the either the library to research and exchange ideas about how to fix the machine or go to the east side of the forest to practice magic.

"Hmm. It seems that you're making a progress, it took you a lot faster to convert ethernano to mana." Levy praised, taking note of the progressed. "This is your best time so far, filling up quarter of your power in less than an hour. With this we can make that faster." Jack clapped his chubby hands together happily.

As it turns out ethernano is denser than mana, and so was not that compatible to him and he has filter it first. 

Good thing was, magic from wizards in this world has less effect than him since their magic was denser and thus have less chance of invading his body. Meaning if someone use a sleeping spell to him he won't be affected much if at all (largely depending on the power put to it) since the dense and more compact ethernano particles can't get through the thinner but more scattered and steady mana particles, it's like a fat man trying to squeeze to a narrow street, Jet said.

Bad thing is, healing magic won't work in him since it might do more damage than good, and him using healing spell will require more mana than normal since he need to fill a much larger gap of power when trying to heal someone. Also it means that he'll have harder time recovering his magic since he need to filter it first, that's why Levy proposed that he drain quarter of his accesible magic and fill it with filtered ethernano as an exercise.

"And you really should purchase gale force reading glasses as soon as you can it can speed up the progress in our research." The magic seems to have prevented the rise of technology in this world (it made Ben wondered if it would what would have befall the earth if magic was accepted much earlier) and they basically had to start from scratch, thankfully Levy was a really smart girl and the gale force reading glasses had accelerated their progress.

"I'll buy one as soon as I have enough money, the bet won me quite a few Jewels." 

"I still can't believe that you won over Natsu, an epitome of fire himself." Jet muttered. "I lost shit ton of money."

"Yeah." Droy agreed. "It's quite a shock, that's like Cana losing on a alcohol drinking contest."

"Anyway, were done for now Ki-chan." Levy started to call him Ki-chan when she accidentally saw one of his ID which has his middle name on display claiming that it was cute, she also called Jack Nii-chan.

"Let's meet again tomorrow then?" He asked the girl and Levy shook her head. "I can't, we have mission tomorrow, it might take a whole day." Ben nodded and they soon part ways as the sun set.

"Let's go now Jack."

...

"Ben! Fight me!" Natsu yelled at him for what seems to be a millionth time from another table as he serve Reedus steak and juice. 

Ben was about to turn him down again when Erza's iron-gloved fist hit him in the head and knocking him out. "Stop bothering the guild's guest you idiot!"

Erza glared at the slumped dragon slayer before turning to him. "Where's Jack?" Erza absolutely adored Jack and always ask the brown-haired teen about the baby. Jack usually follow him around too.

"He's in the bed playing games." Erza thank him and went upstairs to check on the baby necrofriggian.

"Ben, another one on table 15." Mira's voice called out. "Coming." He took the offered tray with a smile and went to find the table. Mira said that it has been a lot busier and livelier since he came, Fairy Tail are now having costumers from even outside the guild meaning less guild fights or else civilian might get caught in the crossfire.

"Here's your order." He set the pasta and smoothies on the table, the costumer were an average looking man in his thirties and a little girl, they were regulars. 

"Benny!" The little girl, Sarah, exclaimed in joy. "Where's Jackie?" 

"Upstairs, he's feeling quite lazy today."

"Thanks Ben." The older man, Tony, smiled.

"No problem."

"Benny, Benny tell me more about the octopus guy!" Sarah said happily making Tony flush red. "Sarah, he's working!" He told the girl making her pout and look at him with a puppy eyes.

Ben took a second to glance at the clock across the hall and saw that it was nearing the lunch break, he turn to smile at the little girl. "Sure, I guess I can tell you one story." The girl slide to the corner to give him space to seat.

Tony heave a sigh, "You're spoiling her you know."

"Daddy!" The older man chuckled at the protest and pat the little girls hair, making quite the mess.

"Nohooo!"

Ben laughed along, for the first time in the past few days he felt his shoulder lightened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben will be commenting on various anime-like air of Earthland but for the sake of Wendy's speech, i will be using honorifics and Ben will also be using honorifics, it's kinda hard not to use one especially for the more polite type of folks, he won't be 'noticing' that kind of stuffs because i say so, it's rather awkward to to replace all the -san to Mr or Mrs you know. If i see someone pointing this stuff in the comment then that means you don't read the notes, which i am guilty of doing sometimes especially if they are really long.
> 
> Also, some of thee spells that I will be using here can be either be found on Ben 10 wiki or spell websites or even just translation from google translate.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading.


	2. Ben Vs. Natsu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for terrible grammar and mistakes through out his chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy!

It was a Friday, a guild members only allowed day and so a fight was taking place, pent up energy over the past few days coming at them full force. 

"Their resilience too," Ben noted with a sweat drop(?!). "It reminds me of anime characters."

"Anime?" Ben nodded to Mira, handing her the used mugs to be washed. "Yeah, it's an animation from Japan, a country from my world, that's very much like here, characters have colorful and gravity-defying hair style, non existent laws of physics and being able to take blows that would have killed normal human. I'm glad i have the charm of resurrection inside me, else I won't be able to keep up."

Mira giggled at his response, "That does describe it huh. Well, I think it also has to do with wizard having higher capacity to store ethernano in their body."

"Might be, but I like the anime theory better. I mean it opens new possibilities you know, like what if in another world, I'm just a cartoon or whatever and that my whole life is just a show?" Ben pondered as Mira handed him a new batch of plates full of fried chicken and salad.

"It would be very interesting. That's Laki's order by the way."

Ben nodded and went to the purple haired woman in the corner that was sipping smoothie in the corner. "Hey Ben, these drinks are real good. They're even decreasing alcohol consumption of the guild, including Cana's!" 

Ben gave her a smile, setting her order on the table. "Thank you." Laki pulled the plate to her as she said, "You know you can make real money if you advertise it to the whole of Fiore and get a patent for it, plus the convenience of being able to get smoothy everywhere in the country."

Ben paused from cleaning the table at the suggestion. "You know, that's a really good idea, I'll ask Mira later." 

"What is that I hear? Not yet a couple and you're already on leash?" Wacaba called out teasingly. "Kids these days."

"They mature so fast." Macao added dramatically causing Ben to roll his eyes. "We share profit in operating the business you know, so of course I'll consult her. Anything else?" He asked the two as he gathered their cups and plates.

"Nah."

"You don't have to worry Ben, as a real man I will not interfere in another real man's love life!" Elfman announced clapping his large hands on Ben's tiny shoulder and startling the poor teen and almost sending the plates and cups on the tray to the floor if not for his quick reaction to make the said plates and cups float back.

Elfman graduated from calling him a walking stick to a real man after a contest 3 days ago on who can consume more chili fries without drinking milk or any beverage to quench the spiciness of the food, Ben emerge victorious of course, even against Natsu, which skyrocketed his fortune thanks to others voting against him in a betting poll set up by Mira, years of eating chili fries ain't just for a show.

"Thanks Elfman, but it's not really like that." He told the giant and slipped to the bar, not wanting to be subjected in another abuse in his shoulders. 

"Another!" Cana called out from her seat, apparently done with her smoothy. Cana like to try different flavor and Ben loves to experiment so they get along real well, Ben create a new untested combo and Cana tries it and give critics, though he usually compares it with alcohol and, surprisingly enough, various wine brands. It was source of confusion over the guild because the 'flavor' he mixed isn't complimentary (Mira's words) like cocoa and squid, they usually stay on the fruity variety, the killjoys.

He approach the smoothy maker, his finest creation, next to Tenn-speed of course. "Grapes and Red apple with Kale." he offered to the brunette making others back away. Cana took a sip and nodded in approval. "Good, like red wine."

"Hm, you should try to mix alcohol."

"Red apple already have high ethanol content among any other fruit."

"Then add other ethanol rich fruit, Master ban me from drinking too much after I swindled the council."

"Why are swindling the council anyway."

"They have a lot of money anyway!" Cana huffed.

"Ben, a fire whisky on Vijeteer." Mira called out from where she was serving another costumer. "Coming!"

...

Everyone gathered on the east part of the forest, it was finally the day that Natsu has been preparing for, a battle with Ben. Natsu has been bugging the brown haired teen constantly since he started helping in the bar, and despite of (or maybe because of) Erza's fist slamming to his head every single time he asked he still pestered Ben. Ben, in his pity for the remaining functional brain cell of the other, gave up and agreed to fight him.

"Hmph. I haven't known Ben long but I'm sure he can't lose to a flame brain like you!" Gray mocked from the sidelines, betting against Natsu in the betting poll that Mira set once again. Not that Ben's complaining, the last bet won him 2.5 million Jewels, that's 25,000 bucks! And his salary was 50,000 Jewels or 500$ a day thanks to the smoothy and other food from the cookbook's popularity, another victorious bet will up his fortune since the guild members seems to be betting more money than the chili-fries eating contest.

"What was that Ice Princess?!" 

"You heard me! You'll have no way of winning!"

"Quit it you two!" Erza yelled at the two slamming their head together. Ben averted his gaze at that. Ouch.

"You better win this Ben! I'm betting a lot of money here!" Cana called out from the sides, hugging her barrel of beer. "Good luck Ki-chan!" Levy cheered, the two other member of the Shadow Gear right behind her, it seems that because Levy bet against Natsu they did too. The only other one that were betting to him were Mira, Elfman and surprisingly, Happy.

"Why are you betting against me?!" Natsu questioned the flying feline. "I lost my fish money from the bet 3 days ago, i need to take it back." Was all Happy's reply.

"You don't think I'll win?!"

"Jack, who do you think will win?" Happy question the baby necrofriggian, ignoring Natsu's protest. Jack chirped happily, pointing at his Daddy. "See?"

Before Natsu can reply any further Master went to the middle. "You can still back out you know." Ben told the other, knowing he won't back out. 

"Are you kidding?! I'm getting all fired up! Let's do this!" He has his hand raise and was practically spewing fire. If Ben remember right Mira said that Natsu was a fire dragon slayer and was raised by a dragon (how awesome is that?!) and is essentially fireproof inside and out, and that fire replenish his magic stores. No fire spells then.

"Before we fight though, I have a condition." Natsu paused from his excitement at that. "If I win then, you'll be leaving me alone, no picking fights with me."

Natsu frowned at that before lightening up. "But if I win then I can pick a fight every time!"

"Sure." 'I just have to win.'

"Let the fight. Begin!" As soon as Master lower his hand Natsu launch to Ben with a flaming fist. Ben made a backward leap and landed on a thin green platform in the air that he created, mentally thanking his beloved cousin for teaching him moves and the Charm of Luck inside of him to make up for his lack of flexibility (Gwen was better in gymnastics than him).

" **Kemo Char**!" A green energy gathered at his clasp hand in front of him before shooting off at Natsu in a concentrated mana beam. It hit Natsu in the leg sending him tumbling. 

"Ah!" Natsu's face slammed to the floor before getting up and leaping high. " **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack**!" Twin whip-like flames erupted from both of Natsu's hand and headed to Ben who barely managed to create a flat square barrier in front of him for defense. It hold out pretty well but it crack and the blast send Ben almost slamming down a tree if not for the soft green pillow-like mana bubble that he managed to create to soften the landing.

Hey, he might have the Charm of Resurrection inside him but it never hurts to be too careful. Ben clicked his tongue when he vanish the bubble, most of his offensive attack were Fire spells, which he can't use unless he want to power his opponent up.

" **Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame**!" A fireball went hurtling to Ben who created a stronger dome of barrier to protect himself. " **Hespera Sophian**!" Ben dove to the side just as Natsu broke through the barrier with a fire-powered kick after Ben receded it. " **Fire Dragon's Claw**!"

Ben perform a series of back flip, sailing through the air and narrowly dodging Natsu's kick by an inch. " **Fire Dragon's Crashing Fang**!"

" **Contigo**!" A large square barrier emerge in front of his outstretch hands and absorbed the impact of the of the claw-like whip of flame, though it cracked a bit the flame dissipated immediately upon contact much to Natsu's shock and Ben took advantage of Natsu's slightly angled position and deliver a good ole powerful round house kick to his side sending the other crashing to a tree. 

Natsu stood up with a stagger, apparently the kick didn't do much damaged, must be the ultra-resistant body.

Max whistled, "Dude's got some moves!"

"Ben's been in to much defensive though." Droy pointed out making Jet scoffed. "Of course he is, Natsu keep launching at him!"

" **Sinnyu Invisibus**." Ben hold out his glowing hands separately on his side and ripping chunks of the ground to the air before swinging one to Natsu's direction. Natsu covered his fist with his fire and punch through some of them and dodging the other, he was running straight to Ben who put his free hand on his pocket and pulling out a couple of seeds and dropping them to the ground.

" **Vitalis Ereptum**." The seeds shook for a few seconds before a series of vines erupted from them and went in and out of the ground and headed straight to Natsu and wrapped around his limbs.

"Wha-?" Natsu gasped at the torns digging through his flesh that dug in deeper as he struggle.

"He can control plants?!" Droy exclaimed in surprised. "Well, I just hope he can't run as fast as me." Jet muttered as he stared at the fight.

"He's very adaptable and strategic." Master commented from the side. "He is." Erza agreed, taking mental notes on their guest's power.

"Ha! I knew Flame Brain's no match for Ben." Gray smirked, accepting another drink from Mira. Jack chirped happily from the air and high fiving Happy. Daddy's winning!

Ben took a breathe and release the other set of stones to the trapped dragon slayer. Cloud erupted upon making impact, obstructing the view.

"Woah." Lucy muttered in both awe and horror, she clutch plue closer. "That was intense." Ben was not worried though, from what he observed from the guild fights and Mira's accounts Natsu is use to rough handling and is a fast healer, chances are, Natsu was just a bit bruised up. It didn't took long for his theory to be proven right as Natsu emerge from the cloud of smoke with a flaming elbow, he was sporting some bruise and cuts.

" **Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow**." The dragon slayer punch trough the barrier Ben created and hit him in the shoulder, making the latter fall into the ground. Ben recovered from the impact immediately and rolled out of the way just as a flaming fist made a crater from where his head was just a few seconds ago.

'That was close.' Ben thought in relief, sweat trickle down his cheek as he stood up to block another flamed kick aimed for his neck and skidding a few feet away. "Ugh." That's gonna bruise badly. "Damn."

Ben panted as he lower his arms and created another barrier to block a flaming fist. 'And he has yet to use his Roar.' He took a few steps backward and extended his glowing left hand in front of him. " **Namala**." A green rope of mana begin to envelop Natsu's torso along with his hand and Ben lifted him from the ground. " **Tempestus Impaetus**." The cloud darken and a bolt of lightning escaped through and hit Natsu. 

"Aghahagh!" 

Ben made sure to decrease the volt, just a wee bit higher than what would incapacitate a normal human back from earth. Mira told him that Natsu was used to being hit by electricity because of Laxus, apparently Master's grandson, but he didn't really want to risk killing his opponent.

"Wah. He can use lightning too!" Macao exclaimed, Wacaba was by his side gaping, his pipe almost falling. "He pack punches."

"That was a tone-down lightning strike." Levy muttered to herself.

After a few seconds the lighting stop and Ben release the binding around the dragon slayer, making the latter slump to the ground, a bit toasted. Ben was just about to walk to the stands when a fireball was sent his way, he barely manage to cast a shield. " **Contigo**!"

As soon as the fireball dissipated Natsu stood up with a stagger, his body was leaning heavily to the right. "It's not over yet!"

" **Fire Dragon's Roar**!" A torrent of flaming hot tornado of flame was release from the dragon slayers mouth and Ben yelled, " **Thanatis Icatis Exodus**!" A giant tornado appeared right in the middle of the battlefield and collided full force at the torrent of flames, creating an explosion of dust that blinded the spectator, Ben also created a barrier to protect himself.

"Take this! Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist." Ben went to block continuous barrage of flame powered punches from Natsu, the barrier started forming crack from the abuse, every punch an explosion happens and the attack continuously increase in power.

"No choice." Ben release the barrier and leap out of the way and landed on a very high plat form on the air. The cloud of dust created by the powerful explosion from earlier has now fully dissipated and the viewers can now fully see what's going on.

" **Namala**." He tighten the clutch of the rope to the Dragon Slayer before releasing his own hand and maintaining the rope intact with his gaze.

Ben raised his right hand, " **Aer**." Wind started spinning in his palm, he raised the other, " **Aqua**." The moisture in the air became water that started encircling his palm and slam them together while yelling, " **Combibo Potentia**." He aimed his open palm to Natsu's direction and a light blue beam strike the dragon slayer and rapidly covered him with thick ice. It should buy him some time to think of a strategy.

"He can do Ice magic too?! Seriously, what can he not do?" Gray said in shock. The others were taken aback to at the display. 

"For real." Lucy agreed. "His power's pretty convenient. All for one." There was a hint of jealousy in his tone making Levy sweat drop.

"Well Ki-chan's magic is different from ours Lu-chan." 

"Fascinating." Erza mumbled in approval. "It was an incredible display."

"You're a real man!" Elfman yelled from hisposition in the crowd, deafening those near him. Mira merely smiled at Ben.

Ben, meanwhile was trying to remember some of the things Happy had told him before. "Come on, Ben. What did Happy mentioned before?" After a few seconds, to which the Ice encasing Natsu was already melting, it hit him. "That's it, motion sickness." Personally, Ben thought it was ridiculous that someone has such a terrible stomach when riding anything moving to the extent that Happy tells him but it's worth a shot, he was getting exhausted, the ethernano's not really that compatible with him.

"Alright." Ben claps his hand in finality. "Worth the shot." Just as he finished his sentence Natsu broke through the ice, looking pretty pissed.

"What was that Ben?! Copying Ice Princess?!" Natsu yelled at him.

"Hey!" Gray protested from the sides, he was barely hold back by the combined forces of Max and others.

" **Fire Dragon's** -" Natsu leaned his back slightly and puff his cheeks, at the same time Ben set his hand in front of him and yelled. " **Turbo**!" "- **ROAR**!" 

A torrent of flames was released from Natsu's mouth and headed to Ben who send a spiraling mana-infused whirlwind to counter it and after a few moments the mana-infused whirlwind won the fight and pierce through the torrent of flame and headed straight to Natsu and lifting him to the ground and spinning him in a very fast rate.

"AHHH!" Natsu was caught by the vortex of wind and he gradually turn a shade of green signifying the effectiveness of Ben's strategy, he look ready to throw up.

"Ben controlled the whirlwind and raised it higher so it was on his level. "Give up no Natsu, or You'll be stuck there for a long time!" A bluff, Ben spent nearly a quarter of his remaining accessible magic in creating the Turbo and maintaining it ain't an easy job either.

"I-I giv-give-ugh-up!"

Ben visibly relaxed at that and steadily decreased the supply of mana flowing through the whirlwind and steadily vanishing it. Once the whirlwind vanishes Natsu fell gently to the ground. Ben took a few deep breathes before creating more platforms one after another to serve as a stairwell and he walk down.

"Winner. Ben Tennyson!" Master announced loudly making the rest of the audience cheer.

"Great going Ben!"

"Good Job Ki-chan!"

"Great going Ben!"

Ben slumped a bit before gathering mana in himself again and the rocks, trees and the ground that was scorch and displace floated. " **Restituere**." Everything started to get back in place and soon everything was fix, like nothing ever happen.

Master's eyes widen at the display. "You, might just end up my favorite young man." He told the exhausted Ben. "You sure you don't want to join?"

Ben laughed at that. "I'll think about it Master." He replied to the old man before walking to the moaning dragon slayer. Ben crouched lower to reached a hand. " **Medeor**." His eyes and hand glowing green, Ben healed Natsu's injuries and motion sickness in a second.

Natsu opened his eyes when warm magic flooded his system and he felt his body lightened. "I'm okay?" He asked out loud, sitting up and starring at his hand and then Ben in wonder. "Pretty much." 

Natsu brightened up and grab both of the other teens hands. "That's it, you're part of the team!" 

"Wha-?" Ben's confusion was short-lived though, Erza slammed a iron-gloved fist on top of Natsu's head, knocking the latter's out.

"Leave him alone you idiot!"

Ben sweatdropped. "I just healed him up tho."

"Congratulations Ben!" It was Mira's voice, Ben turn to see her holding a bag of what he assume was cash. "You won 700,000 Jewels!" Jack circled him happily. 

"Thanks Mira." Ben told the white haired beauty who helped him up and handed him the bag.

"I knew you could do it Ben." Cana declared loudly, swinging her hand to his shoulder. "You can have as many booze you want next time, my treat!"

"Good going beating Flame Brain, Ben." Gray congratulated with a fist bump.

Others also went to congratulate him, others also complained about their looses and how they're never gonna doubt him ever again. Ben laugh along with them as they declared it was time for another party, feeling the crack bones and bruises already healing slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, let's clear up something here. Ben has all of the Charms of Bezel inside him, when they were destroyed (Ben's doing after Hex continuous hunting for them) and the magic inside of the Charms went to the nearest magical source, Ben. This came from another Anodite!Ben fanfic that I had read in Ao3, I'm pretty sure it was slash between Ben and Kevin and can be found easily by tapping the Anodite Ben tag but I'm to lazy to search for it.
> 
> What Ben meant with accessible magic is the amount of mana he can spend without tapping to much to his Anodite side and possibly exhausting himself to death, after all Anodite are made of mana and too much magic can caused them to disintegrate themselves into nothingness.
> 
> Thx for reading.


	3. Galuna Island?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for grammatical errors and mistakes in this chapter.
> 
> Anyway, Enjoy.

Ben was giving out the orders to other costumers when he heard Mira's voice asking the Master if something's wrong.

"I'm fine...Just sleepy." The Master's tired face grew darker and he look like he's fighting sleep with all his power, "He's coming." He?

"Mira...?" Ben set the tray down and went to catch Mira as she fell limp to the floor. "Guys...?" 

The rest of the occupants of the guild hall started to fall limp in their seats, Gray, Elfman, Natsu and everyone seem to be affected too. "Not...again." Gray mumbled sleepily before he fell limp. Everyone were dropping like flies; Levy, Lucy, Happy, Macao, Max, Laki, Wacaba and even Erza, though she hold out much longer than others.

"Jack?" He called out to his child as he set Mira down the floor gently. "Nippy, love?" Ben felt the heavy load in his shoulder lift when he heard a low and tired whine coming from where Erza was lying limp (Erza insisted that she can take care of Jack while he work). Ben rushed to Jack and gently pried him from the redhead's suffocating embrace.

Ben turn around when he felt a cool presence wash over him and saw a man who wore a dark blue cloaked with an upturn collar held together by two red button tied together by a white string. Arms and legs covered by bandages and dark blue gloves matching the color scheme of the cloak, a dark blue bandanna with a forehead protector covering his hair and another dark green handkerchief tied to his face. His upper legs were covered in some dark blue pants that puffed out(?). Around his waist, which was obscured by the aforementioned bell-like pants, he wore two dark green belts, similar to the larger dark green strap with a silver buckle which was slung over his right shoulder. The man carried a wooden staff with a fan-like end to it in his right hand.

He felt weird, not like Loki or Natsu kind of weird, but very different still. The man seem to have felt Ben's gaze and turn to him, they stared at one another without blinking -or at least Ben didn't, he must look like a child, kneeling on the floor with a blue stuff-toy on his hand (the man's perspective (maybe) since he didn't know about Jack). To Ben's shock the man merely held out a hand and help him up to his feet before moving to the direction of the request board.

Ben's eyes follow the man, Jack was surprisingly silent, the man was quick to decide what mission he want and rip it from the board, walking to Master who look up to him. "Mystogan..."

The man, Mystogan, hold out the paper in front of him and with a low monotone, said, "I shall return..." He turn to leave before Master yelled out to him. "No, wait, lift your sleeping spell before you leave!"

Mystogan paused before continuing his walk with a countdown. "Five..." He walk past several wizards lying on the floor and when he reached Ben he paused and turn to him and nodded briefly before continuing. "...four...three..." Ben stared after the man in confusion as he neared the door. "...two...one." The door slam shut after Mystogan walk past it and everyone started to wake up.

"Ugh. The bastard." Someone muttered from the crowd.

"Oh, man..." Jet moaned. "Was Mystogan here...?"

"What a jerk..." Droy complained, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.

"Does he have to put us to sleep every time he comes here?" Levy groaned.

"Who's this Mystogan guy?" Lucy asked from the counter near Master where she fell asleep.

Gray and Elfman walk over the counter and Elfman explained. "For one, he's a contender for Fairy Tail's strongest wizard."

"He's that strong?"

"Yeah..." Gray nodded. "And for some reason, he doesn't want anyone to know what he look like. So, whenever he comes here to take a job, he casts a sleeping spell." 

"That's kinda creepy..." Lucy commented. "Why doesn't he want anybody knowing what he looks like?" 

Gray shrugged, "Nobody knows..." He glanced at Master. "Master Makarov is the only person here who's got a good look at his face..."

"That's not true, I've seen him before..." A voice spoke out from upstairs.

Everyone, including Ben who was still staring at the closed door earlier and pondering about the strange feeling he was getting at Mystogan, look up. It was a muscular man in his twenties leaning over the balcony, he has a spiky blonde hair, a very distinctive lightning bolt scar over his right eye and eyebrow, he was also wearing an earphone that has spike on each side. He wore a mustard-yellow shirt with black, leopard-like spots on the shoulders, collar, arms, and sides. Over the top of this shirt, he wore a large, black coat with bluish-gray fur trimmings, which was hung lazily over his shoulders. He also wore wine-red pants, and plain, silvery-white shoes.

"And so did the new guy and his blue bundle." Jack trashed and whined at being called 'blue bundle' making Ben hold him tighter to his chest.

They all turn to him making Ben sweat. "W-well, he was wrapped up from head to toe." He offered at the others.

"Mystogan's a little shy. You should all respect his privacy." The man said with a snide smile. 

"Laxus!" Elfman called out.

"Talk about rare," Macao commented.

"You're never here," Wakaba added.

"And here's another contender," Gray said flatly.

Laxus has yet to say much words but Ben has a feeling he won't really like the guy, even Jack agreed. It was then that Natsu opened his eyes, apparently he was the last to wake up.

"Alright, Laxus! IT'S TIME TO BRAWL!" Natsu yelled.

Ben closed his eyes and sighed, exasperated. "Seriously...?"

"Gettin' your butt kicked twice in one week wasn't enough?" Gray said, annoyed.

"Yeah, pal. If you can't even win against the redhead, why bother with me?" Laxus mocked with an amused grin on his face.

It was then that Ben could feel a strange air coming from his left. He turned to see Erza glaring up at Laxus with an incredibly dark expression. Ben certainly hadn't seen her like that before, but then again he had never spent much time with the redhead prior to the other approaching him to offer help with Jack and complimenting his smoothy.

"What was that?" Erza snarled.

"No need to get all worked up, Erza." Gray lifted up his hands in a placating gesture, trembling slightly.

Laxus simply scoffed at Erza's obvious anger towards him as well as Gray's attempts to placate her. "Word on the street is the Fairy Tail guild has a new special guest." The blonde wizard stated. Laxus then glanced over to Ben, which made the mana user paused, he has the same weird feeling as Natsu but more artificial and not dark. "...and that he gave 'Natsu the Salamander' the biggest thrashing this week." he taunted.

"HEY!" Natsu shouted indignantly.

"Talk about pathetic." Laxus sneered. "You challenge some nobody fresh off the streets and lose to him. Then you think you have what it takes to go up against me?" The blonde man simply laughed making Ben twitch.

'Nobody, I'll show you who's nobody.' Ben thought darkly, his insecurities at his cousin getting the watch while his alternate self(s) get it, coming to the surface. He was always underestimated which was not really a bad thing strategically speaking, but it never failed to hit the nerves sometimes especially when it comes from self-assured guy like Laxus. It was why he tried so hard to increased his fighting abilities and listen attentively at Grandma Verdona's lessons.

But what ticked Ben more than being called nobody was the fact that he was speaking in such a condescending way to people who were, at least in Master's eyes, supposed to be his "family." Erza seemed to feel the same way as she angrily stepped forward, standing tall and firm, glaring at Laxus. 

"If you have something to say then come out and say it!" Erza yelled.

Laxus ceased his cackling and outstretched his arms. "I'm saying that I'm the guild's strongest wizard."

Natsu gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes up at Laxus. "Then come down here and prove it."

"You come to me, little man." Laxus talked through his teeth, speaking in a mocking tone.

"With pleasure!"

Natsu then hopped off of the table he'd been standing on, rushed over to the bar, and jumped over the counter, heading towards the staircase behind it that led to the second floor of the guild hall. However, Natsu was stopped in his tracks when Master's left arm suddenly stretched out, with his fist becoming at least five times larger than the old man's entire body, and slammed down on Natsu, pinning him underneath. Needless to say, Ben was not expecting that at all, especially not from Master. Neither was Lucy or Mirajane, judging from their shocked expressions.

"Whoa," muttered Ben. Master wasn't even facing Natsu, but instead had his eyes closed and head lowered as he faced forward, a very serious aura about him, unlike anything Ben had seen from him until now.

"You're not allowed on the second floor, Natsu. At least not yet..." Master reprimanded.

Laxus rested his chin on his wrist and scoffed. "Think yah made him grumpy..."

Natsu's face only grew angrier with Laxus's comment as he struggled against Master's massive left fist, but to no avail. "Shut up!"

"That's enough outta you, Laxus!" Master chastised.

Ignoring Master's demand, Laxus stood tall, an arrogant, condescending grin on his face as he looked down at everyone present in the guild hall.

"The most powerful one in the guild isn't a chick or some hooded weirdo. Ya wanna know what the strongest wizard looks like?" Laxus paused to point at himself. "You're lookin' right at him!"

Ben could only glare at Laxus as did everyone else, all of them thoroughly angered by everything the arrogant man had said. It appeared that there were jerks in this world like there were in Ben's, and Laxus was just the first one he'd met.

'And hopefully the only one...' Ben mused dryly. 'There just seems to be an endless supply of them no matter the world.'

...

Later, when the sun was setting down and the others have left the guild, Ben and Mira were cleaning up with Lucy enjoying one last drink in the counter.

"Hey, Mirajane, can I ask you something?" The white-haired beauty nodded for her to continue. "What was Master talking about earlier? Why can't we go on the second floor?"

"That's because that area is reserved for advanced members of the guild. The jobs that are listed on the request board up there make the ones down here look like child's play in comparison. They're called S-Class quests." Mirajane replied.

"S-class?" Mira nodded and explained, "They're jobs so dangerous that one wrong move could be your last. But, with that risk, comes a higher reward. There are only five people in the entire guild who are considered S-Class. That includes Laxus, Mystogan, and Erza."

Ben nodded. "Oh, those mission on the request board are for S-class." 

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed in surprised. "I thought no one can go on the second floor? Ben's a newer addition than me!"

Ben sweat dropped. "I live in the second floor, that's where the guests room are."

Mirajane gave a sheepish smile before turning to Lucy. "But I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, Lucy. In my opinion, there's no amount of money worth risking your life over."

"Yeah, no kidding." Lucy agreed. "Especially not after today's little mishap..."

Ben simply nodded in agreement.

...

After a while, Lucy took off back to her apartment in Magnolia, with Mirajane heading off to wherever it was that she stayed. 

Ben was having a late-night snack on the counter after making sure Jack was fast asleep in his cot (Mirajane purchased it and decorated it with stuff toy that came from various members of the guild, including Erza). He was unable to sleep and so was messing around his phone, it was still working largely due to him using electricity spell to charge it, it was one of the trick he learn first hand when he discovered his magic when he was 10.

It seems that the World-Hopping machine is taking longer to fix, Levy estimated it will take about a year or two to fix. The only comfort he can give himself is that the others are surely looking for him since he was unable to attended the weekly meeting and that surely Edward reported him missing even just for the sake of his greatest invention.

"Can't sleep?" Ben turn around to see the Master standing behind him.

"Oh...Yeah...I'm kind of...not tired yet... I guess." Ben finished lamely.

"It's been quite a tiresome week for you hasn't it?" Master said consolingly, sitting at the counter to keep him on eye-level. "How are you adjusting so far?"

"Quite well actually, Mira helped me out a lot when it comes to adjusting and discussing about the life here, Erza absolutely adored Jack and Levy has been a big help in fixing the machine and helping me discover my limits and stuff. Natsu and the others too, they've been really swell."

Master nodded with a smile and took Ben's offered warm milk.

"I'm terribly sorry you had to deal with that unpleasantness earlier with Laxus. I'm constantly at my wit's end about what to do with that boy, and Mystogan stopping by the guild was unexpected, as it always is. It's quite a feat that you're able to stay awake with no visible strain in you but for you to experience that in just your first week..." the elderly man paused.

Ben simply waved it off. "It's okay. You don't need to worry about it, really. I've dealt with way worse."

For a moment, everything was silent until Master finally spoke up again. "So, tell me, Ben... What do you think of the magic you've seen in this world?"

The Anodite turned to Master and then turned back ahead to the guild hall's main entrance.

"So far, I've only witness two type of magic, the others talk about theirs too when I inquired but it really is very different compare to what magic is in my world." Ben confided. "Back in my world there's only a few type of magics, spell casting, which I did with my fight with Natsu, hex and jinxes, charms and light and dark magic."

"So, with that in mind," continued Makarov, "What do you think about the magic of this world as a whole? Very different to what you're use to."

"It opens opportunities, I mean, since I can absorb ethernano and convert mana in etheernano, it might be possible to learn the brand of magic use here, Levy has been teaching me ancient languages and soon runes too, Mira's also coaching me in transformation magic and Erza offered to teach me few requip techniques."

Master hummed. "How are those doing then?"

"My eidetic memory's helping me on progressing through languages. As for transformation magic, well, I am quite good at it even before, it was a standard for Anodites to learn transformation firsthand mainly because..." Ben trailed of at that remembering when Grandma first took her human skin of and the nightmares that plague him every night since when she announced that he'll also be like that, no skin. 

"Anodites are species you belong to if I'm not mistaken?" Master clarified. "Being with innate magical abilities. You would make a fine wizard."

"I use different kind." It was a weak argument, but Ben feared that if he went and join then it will further prove that he was stuck here until the machine is fix or the others found him.

Master sighed. "There's more of being a wizard than types of magic, what's important is what's inside, a power no matter how strong isn't significant unless the one who wield it has the mindset, the willpower, to use it for good cause. It what we do with the power that we have that makes us who we are. Here in Fairy Tail we make do with what we have, cherish the friendship, the family, that we have here. Live our life to the fullest and comfort one another in times of need. I know you'll make a great wizard Ben."

Ben look down his phone, he was scrolling to his gallery and the image show one of the photo he had taken with Grandpa, Gwen, Kevin, Rook and Jack. He clutch it tighter before shutting the phone.

"I know you want to return back. I understand, but know that my offer of you being a member of this guild still stands." Master said one last time before hopping of the counter. "Now, I think I'll be getting my Z's, I'm not exactly getting younger these days. Goodnight."

Despite Ben's insistence that he can take care of himself Master didn't budge and so he's been staying at another guest room in the back.

Ben sighed to himself before cleaning his plates. "I guess I should head off to bed too." He muttered.

He was about to open the door in his room when he heard some muffled sounds. It was dark, but not so dark that he couldn't make things out. He looked up, to see Happy, floating close to the ceiling using his wings, clearly trying to be inconspicuous. The flying feline being at the second floor alarmed Ben.

Happy flew away from the second floor and towards an open window, carrying a piece of paper in his paws. Ben waited for the flying cat to exit through the window before he open the door and went inside.

...

Meanwhile, Lucy was currently walking through Magnolia on her way down the stone-paved path back to her apartment as she thought to herself excitedly.

'Wow! Mystogan and Laxus! That is so cool. I can't believe how many famous wizards there are in Fairy Tail!' She grinned slyly. "And I think I'm starting to figure out how everybody's ranked within the guild."

As she entered her apartment building, which appeared not much different from your average house, she continued to talk out loud to herself.

"Gotta start workin' my way to the top!" she proclaimed.

With that, Lucy turned the doorknob to her apartment and opened the door. However, what she found inside was unlike anything she expected. There, on her bed, was both Natsu and Happy, the fire-breather having abandoned his vest and was doing sit-ups and the blue feline lifting a large dumbbell, or at least for his size anyway.

"Welcome home!" Natsu greeted, doing sit-ups.

"Sup?" Happy resumed lifting his dumbbell.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" Lucy rushed over to Natsu and Happy and kicked them both out of her bed, much to their discomfort and pain. "YOU GUYS STINK!"

As Natsu and Happy got up off the floor, Lucy angrily pointed out the window. "Why don't you jerks work out at your own house?!"

Natsu grinned happily. "Now, Lucy, if we wanna work together like a team-" He pulled out a pink dumbbell, "-we gotta train like one!"

"We thought you'd like the pink dumbbell." Happy added.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT COLOR IT IS, I'M NOT LIFTING WEIGHTS WITH YOU!" Lucy yelled angrily.

Ignoring Lucy's angry outburst, Natsu and Happy then get on the floor, and began doing pushups.

"We gotta kick it up a notch if we wanna beat Laxus and Erza. And Ben too!" Natsu claimed.

"Aye, sir." Happy agreed.

"I just want a little peace and quiet, now GET OUT!" Lucy demanded.

Natsu and Happy then begin doing pushups at a faster rate, both of them now whispering as they talk, and picking up greater speed with their pushups by the second.

"Don't worry, we'll train quietly, Lucy!" Natsu whispered.

"Why does this kinda stuff always happen to me...?!" Lucy cried comically.

Natsu then ceased his pushups with Happy following his example. For a brief moment, everything was silent, until the fire wizard spoke, "I've made a decision..."

Lucy turned back to Natsu, a puzzled look on her face with Natsu turning up to look at her, wearing his usual confident grin.

"Our team is ready for the big time: S-Class!" he declared zealously.

With that, Happy hopped up onto Lucy's desk and held up a piece of paper that had a large, red circle stamped on it with a large "S" in the middle and the word "Class" next to it. The circle had a stylized pair of both angelic and demonic wings on it.

"Yeah! Check it out!" Happy said.

Upon seeing the flier for what was undoubtedly an S-Class quest, Lucy's eyes nearly bulged out of her head as she took an unconscious step back.

"HOW DID YOU GET THAT?!" Lucy cried, mortified. "I THOUGHT WE WEREN'T ALLOWED TO GO ON THE SECOND FLOOR!"

"Well, I just flew up to the top, and took it!"

"YOU LITTLE CAT BURGLAR!" she yelled.

A cheeky grin spread across Happy's face from Lucy's reaction. Natsu put his vest back on and approached the two.

"Since this is our first S-Class quest, we decided to go with the smallest reward we found on the board." He grinned happily and gave a thumbs-up. "But seven million is still a lot of Jewel!"

Lucy turned to Natsu and stated, "But we're not ready for it! If the Master knew we had this job request, he'd be furious!"

"Yeah, but I think he'll end up being proud of us if we actually pull it off." he retorted nonchalantly.

Lucy simply sighed in irritation as she sat down at her desk and crossed her legs, her palm resting on her cheek.

"You know," said Lucy, "this may be the dumbest thing you've ever done, Natsu. If you wanna rise up the ranks, you should try following the guild's rules."

"Geez, we're never gonna make S-Class with that kinda attitude." Natsu grumbled crossing his arms.

"You can handle this on your own. I'm staying right here." Lucy told them with finality to her tone.

Happy held up the flier and mentioned, "But the job is saving a tropical island!" True to his words, a picture of an island was on the flyer. "Really?"

Natsu leaned on the desk as he and Happy both stare at the blond wizard silently for a moment, until their expressions both grow intentionally darker. They spoke in the typical "ghostly" voice, thoroughly creeping Lucy out.

"It's the cursed island of Galuna...!" Natsu and Happy said simultaneously.

"No way! Definitely not going now!" Lucy freaked out. She didn't want any terrible curse on herself thank you very much.

"I'll give you half the fish I catch, Lucy...!" Happy goaded.

"WHAT KINDA INCENTIVE IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE?!" the blonde yelled.

Lucy then calms herself and folds her arms, having had enough of her two friends' antics. "Hmph..."

Seeing that their attempts to convince her were of no use, the Dragon Slayer and feline finally decided to leave. However, instead of opening the door to do so, they opened the window by Lucy's bed.

"Fine." relented Natsu. "We're outta here."

"Aye," Happy chimed.

"That's the best idea you've had all day." Lucy commented. She opened her eyes and saw the method in which Natsu and Happy were leaving. Happy sprouted his wings and flew out with Natsu grabbing onto the blue cat's tail as the two floated to the ground.

"Hold on...!" Lucy pointed angrily to the door. "For crying out loud, would you use the door?!"

Lucy then turned around, huffed, and placed her hands on her hips, seemingly exhausted simply by those two having been in her apartment. However, she then glanced to her right and noticed something. The S-Class flier was still lying on the floor! Those to just have no respect for privacy and stuffs.

"Oh no! They left the job request here!" Lucy placed her hands on her head in panic. "Now everybody's gonna think I'm the one who stole it! What'll I do?!"

Just then, Lucy's eyes widened when she looked at the flier again. She then picked it up and examined it more thoroughly; growing even more surprised once she'd done so. "Is this for real? On top of the giant reward, you also get a Gate Key?!"

On the flier right below the listed reward of seven million, there was the silhouette drawing of a key, which read "Gold" next to it. Lucy hummed in thought for a second before smiling slyly.

Natsu and Happy, the former of whom wearing what appeared to be a brown sleeping bag strapped over his arms, were walking over the bridge directly in front of Lucy's apartment building; though it looked like they were moving at a slower pace than they normally would have. They were simply biding their time, until...

"Wait up, you guys! I've decided to come along!" Lucy called out.

There she was, rushing to catch up with her two friends, and now wearing a sleeveless, orange, zip-up tank top with a white trim and white straps, as well as a blue jean skirt. She was carrying the S-Class flier, leading Natsu and Happy to grin, seeing now that their plan had worked.

Luce's just so predictable sometimes. 

...

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy were off, walking through Magnolia with their spirits high in anticipation of this S-Class quest. Lucy may have objected at first, but with the promise of a Gold Gate Key, her objections practically vanished.

"So, it looks like we're off to Hargeon then!" Lucy said happily.

"Yep!" Natsu grinned. "Man, I'm so excited! This is gonna be awesome! Right, Happy?" Their first S-class mission! Gramps would surely be proud if they manage to complete it.

"Aye, sir!" Happy replied.

Lucy's eyes then widened slightly as a thought crossed her mind. She turned to Happy with a somewhat concerned expression. "So you're sure nobody saw you make off with this request?" she asked hesitantly.

Happy smiled and responded, "Positive!"

"Relax, Lucy!" Natsu assured. "Who would've seen him take it? It's not like people hang out at the guild overnight."

Lucy stopped walking as Natsu and Happy continued, staring at the two incredulously. "Seriously...? Did you idiots already forget that Ben is staying at the guild, and that Master Makarov is staying there too?"

Natsu and Happy stopped dead in their tracks. The two then turned to each other with blank, wide-eyed expressions, clearly having forgotten all about Ben.

"I'd say that's pretty obvious." A painfully familiar voice said. "I'm practically living in the second floor guest room for the past week you know.

Lucy and the other turn slowly in horror. It was Ben, staring at them unimpressed, arms cross in his chest and face practically screaming disappointment making Lucy wince. Jack was there too, on Ben's hair with his wings folded in a poncho and staring them down like his father.

"B-Ben..." Lucy bit her lips. "W-what are you doing here?" 

"I could ask you the same question." He told the blond in monotone, Lucy flinched for a second, he sounded so done, like a parent chastising a child for misdeed, which Lucy supposed was not far from the truth considering what they're doing's practically treason.

"Well... Y-you see, we were just-" Lucy stammered.

"I saw Happy flying off with the S-Class job." Ben cut in. "Don't try to hide it."

Lucy turned to Happy angrily. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SCOUT THE GUILD HALL FIRST?!"

"What happened to, 'No amount of money is worth risking your life over'?"

Lucy shifted her gaze away timidly. "Well, you see, I..."

Natsu then stepped forward, his fists clenched and his face and overall features full of determination. "But it's not just about the money, man! We gotta do somethin' to prove ourselves! If we pull this thing off, then Gramps is sure to make us S-Class!"

Ben rose a single brow, daring the other to repeat the obviously bull shit excuse that he gave him. This time it was not only Lucy who flinch from the look.

"Let me see." Ben hold out his hand. Natsu immediately handed the paper.

"I want you to know there's no stopping us." The brown haired teen wave him dismissively.

Ben stared at the paper for what seems like eternity making Lucy sweat in nervousness. "Okay. Let's go."

"Go?" Happy echoed.

"You're gonna send us back?" Lucy squeaked. 

"No." Ben replied. "I'm coming with you."

"What?!" The three exclaimed in shock.

"But why?" Lucy inquired, confused. "You're not even in a guild! Is that even allowed?"

Ben turned to her and countered, "Well, you guys aren't S-Class wizards and you're taking an S-Class quest. So the rules are already out the window, aren't they?"

"I guess that's true." She admitted.

"And besides, I wanna help these people." The brown haired teen added. "I can't ignore people who need help. I'm not built like that; it's not who I am."

"So you're not interested in the reward?" Happy asked.

Ben blinked. "Reward?"

The jaws of the wizarding team dropped yet again when they heard Ben say that. He really did only read the job description!

"Yeah, the reward! At the bottom! You really didn't see it?! It's huge!" Lucy yelled.

Ben lifted up the flier again and looked at the bottom. It read "7,000,000 Jewel." The Anodite stared at the price money, 70,000$. Ben shared a look with Jack that was on his left side. "I've heard from Mira and others about the reward system but I never really didn't see it coming."

"And I still can't believe that you risk your life for no reward at all. I don't know if I'll be able to that kind of thing." Lucy muttered to herself.

"I won't need the money, Mira agreed to open chains of stores throughout Fiore and Master agreed to fund it and I'm not a Celestial Spirit wizard so I don't need the gold key either.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Natsu yelled. "Let's head off to Galuna Island!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Next is Galuna Island!
> 
> Thx for reading.


	4. Destroy the moon?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wrong grammars and errors throughout the chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The next morning, in the Fairy Tail guild, Master Makarov sat in the counter as usual, enjoying his drink when Mira run down the stairs with an extremely worried look on her face.

"Master, an S-class mission's missing!" For a moment the message doesn't seem to process and Makarov continue sipping his drink before spatting it up. "WHAT?!"

It was still quite early and so it was pretty silent in the guild, everyone heard what Mira just said and they all look in equal amount of surprise and alarm.

"Say what? One of the jobs in the second floor was missing?" Wacaba said in disbelief, lowering the pipe from his mouth.

"But the jobs up there are S-class request." Macao said worriedly. "Anyone know who took of with it?"

Laki huffed from her seat. "Well, it's either someone really strong or really stupid."

Just then, the guild heard an all-too-familiar voice speak up from the upper floor of the guild hall. " _I_ know... A little blue cat flew up here and ripped it off the board."

Mirajane quickly turned to see Laxus on the second floor. He was sitting at a table with his feet propped up, his arms folded, and his eyes closed as he smirked to himself.

"It was Happy?" Mira gasped.

With Laxus's single remark, the entire guild began to mutter amongst themselves, some louder than others.

"He must've _stolen_ it for Natsu and Lucy!" Wakaba realized.

"That's crazy! What're they thinking?!" Macao exclaimed.

"They've got some nerve, taking on an S-Class quest." Alzack commented with a distasteful look on his face.

"I dunno if I'd call it nerve, but it's definitely dumb." Bisca remarked, looking not so pleased herself.

Laxus smirked. "And it wasn't just him who wandered outta here last night. Our guild's esteemed guest went after him along with his beloved blue bundle."

Everyone's eyes nearly bulged out of their heads with that bit of information. No wonder they hadn't seen him around this morning. Ben was usually up and serving by now.

"Ben went with them too?!" Makarov yelled, wide-eyed. They just had a heart to heart conversation last night!

"Are you serious?!" Macao slapped his forehead. "Is that kid crazy?! He has no idea what kind of dangers an S-Class mission could have in store!"

"He doesn't even know anything about taking on _regular_ jobs!" Laki mentioned.

"And he's going with Natsu and Lucy." Bisca inputted plainly.

"Who _knows_ how many things could go wrong with _that_ match-up." Alzack added, remembering the brown haired teens display of power in his match against Natsu, he might have done well against the dragon slayer but S-class mission are entirely different!

"Takin' an S-Class quest without permission is a serious breach of the rules." Laxus smirked as he glanced down at Makarov. "Hey, Gramps! Stunt like that'll get yah kicked out of the guild, am I right?"

Makarov was simply standing on the bar counter with his arms folded, head lowered, and eyes closed, contemplating the situation as Laxus spoke.

"Not that it matters. It's not like those four losers are gonna make it back alive from an S-Class quest. One of 'em ain't even a member to begin with." Laxus said nonchalantly.

Laxus's attention was drawn by Mirajane, who had climbed the stairs, and was staring angrily at the blond man with her hands placed firmly on her hips. "Which is all the more reason you should've stopped them!"

"Oh, lighten up." He dismissed. "All I saw was a blue cat flyin' off with a piece of paper in its paws tryin' to act all sneaky, and a curious kid runnin' after it. I had no _idea_ it was Happy, and I figured there wasn't any trouble little Benjamin could get into wandering around the town at night." He looked at Mirajane. "Besides, Natsu's not cleared for S-Class. I never dreamed _he'd_ break the rules."

That was a lie, and everyone present knew it. Natsu was always finding new ways to aggravate everyone in the guild. This was just the latest and most severe way yet.

"Benjamin?"

"Oh, don't you know the full name of your lover?" Laxus mocked. "It's Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. Tsk. Tsk. No wonder he up and went away with the blond kid."

Mira glared harder, her beautiful face darkening by the second.

"You haven't given me _that_ look in a while..."

"This isn't good..." Makarov looked up at Mira. "Well, which job was it?"

Mirajane turned away from Laxus, but was still glaring at him in her peripheral vision as she went on to answer Makarov's question, with Laxus giving her a snide smirk as she did so. "For lifting the curse on...Galuna Island..."

Makarov eyes widened from shock. "WHAT?!"

"Galuna Island?!" Macao and Wakaba shouted.

"Are they _insane_?!" Laki cried, alarmed.

"They're even dumber than we thought!" Alzack and Bisca remarked, just stunned as the others.

Everyone in the guild had begun to panic upon that revelation. None of the S-Class quests were particularly pleasant, but the Galuna Island job had been left untouched for a very good reason, with that reason being that no one who ever set out on that mission had ever returned from it.

Makarov hopped down from his seat on the bar counter and look up at Laxus, who simply sat there as he had been, practically carefree. "Laxus! Go and fetch them at once!"

"Yeah, right." Laxus replied, giving a dismissive wave. "I got better things to do, Gramps. And besides, everybody in Fairy Tail is supposed to be able to take care of _themselves_ , right?"

"I don't care how you feel about Natsu!" Makarov shouted, losing his patience. "None of them realize what they're getting themselves into, _especially_ Ben! The fact is, you're the only one strong enough to bring them back by force!"

Just then, Gray, who had remained silent this whole time, stood up from his seat behind Master Makarov, and turned to him, drawing the elderly wizard's attention. "Sorry, Master...but I'm afraid I gotta disagree with you."

...

Meanwhile, Natsu, Lucy, Ben, and Happy had made it to the picturesque port town of Hargeon. As they walked through the town, Lucy had an unusually nostalgic smile on her face.

"Wow, this brings back memories." Lucy commented. "It seems like only yesterday when we met here for the first time, Natsu."

That was fairly accurate. Along the way to Hargeon, Lucy had told Ben that she was the most recent addition to Fairy Tail, having only joined the guild less than two weeks prior.

Mentioning the fateful day she met Natsu when Bora, a mage that use illegal magic charms, impersonate Natsu as "Salamander", to lure unsuspecting girls into his cruise ship to traffic them.

"It practically _was_ yesterday." Natsu retorted. "You don't have to get all mushy."

"Yeah, you sound like an old lady." Happy snickered.

Happy's comment earned him an angry glare from Lucy, though it did little to temper his internal laughter. It didn't take long for Lucy to resume her chipper attitude, however.

"Well, let's go find a boat that'll take us to Galuna." Lucy said.

Natsu instantly grew a panicked expression when he heard Lucy mention a boat. "ARE YOU CRAZY?! Forget the boat! Why can't we all just _swim_ for it?!"

Ben rolled his eyes at the suggestion. Jack was making noises too that Ben had come to interpret as incredulousness.

Lucy sighed, exasperated. "And you think _I'm_ the one who's crazy?"

"We can't swim there because none of us know where it is, Natsu." Ben stated. "And we'd all drown before we got anywhere near it anyway."

"Ben's right, Natsu." Lucy agreed. "Like it or not, we need someone to take us to the island, and a boat's the only way to do that."

Natsu slumped in defeat. Ben sighed at that, "Well, I think I can heal you along the way."

"You're an angel!" Natsu exclaimed, performing a worshiping bow in front of him.

"Hey!" He whispered yelled at the dragon slayer, they were attracting people's attention making Ben nervous, technically they were committing crime. "Stand up, stand up."

Thankfully, Natsu quickly stood up and after a minimal fuss they made their way to the fort. 

It would appear that finding someone who was willing to take them to the island was easier said than done. All of the sailors and fishermen they had asked about it had instantly turned them down the moment they mentioned Galuna, with one man claiming it was bad luck to even mention the cursed island.

Eventually, the group came upon a sailor with black hair, who wore a blue cap on his head, and a pale green cloak with a white t-shirt underneath as well as dark pants. He had slightly darkish-colored skin, and a moustache that descended around his mouth and chin. He was sitting in his boat when the team had asked him to take them to Galuna.

"Don't know why you'd wanna go there, but no sailor worth his salt's gonna take ya to Galuna. Not even pirates'll go near that place."

The group had been asking sailors and fishermen all over Hargeon for half the day and was more than a little frustrated, save for Natsu and Happy, who simply folded his arms with a grin on his face.

"Are you _serious_...?" Lucy inquired, defeated.

"You gotta be kidding me." the green eyed teen sighed.

"It looks like we're gonna be swimmin' after all!" Natsu grinned. Ben might have offered to heal him but it's better to not experience it at all.

"Sure does!" Happy chimed. Jack whined.

Lucy spun around to Natsu and Happy angrily. "WE'RE NOT SWIMMING, NATSU!"

Just then, both Natsu and Lucy felt someone place their hands on their right and left shoulders respectively. "I found you...!" a voice said.

"It's Gray!" Lucy said, stunned.

"What're _you_ doin' here?!" Natsu demanded, surprised and frustrated.

Gray turned to Natsu, annoyed. "Gramps found out about your harebrained scheme and sent me to bring yah back."

Natsu's eyes widen in shock, his jaw dropped. "Why?! We're not in danger yet!"

"If yah come back now, yah _might_ avoid being kicked out of the guild. _Maybe_." Gray responded.

Upon hearing that, Lucy placed her hands on her face as she adorned an apprehensive mien. That was definitely not what she was expecting, nor was it something she wanted to hear.

"Kicked out?!" she shrieked.

Hearing Gray mention that Natsu and Lucy might get kicked out of the guild made Ben feel guilty. He figured they'd get in trouble for attempting to complete an S-Class quest without proper qualification, but he didn't think the punishment would be _that_ severe. Master had told him that Fairy Tail was like a big, close-knit family. Getting cast out would essentially be like getting disowned.

"I dunno, guys. If this is gonna get you kicked out of the guild, maybe you _should_ go back." suggested Ben.

Natsu's expression became determined as he got in Gray's face. Though they all heard what Ben said, none of them seemed to notice that he never mentioned what he would do in that statement.

Natsu gritted his teeth and said, "I don't care! I'm goin' on this S-Class quest!"

Gray narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Man, you're way out of your league here. Just come home." It was then that Gray's face turned grave as a thought came to his mind, which he didn't hesitate to share with the group. "When Erza finds out about this, she's gonna be _so_ angry..."

While the threat of being kicked out of Fairy Tail might not have frightened Natsu, the thought of an angry Erza most certainly did; so much so that the Dragon Slayer, Lucy, and Happy as well began to sweat in apprehension.

"Uh-oh..." the trio said.

Ben blink at that. "What are you guys so apprehensive about?" He told the two and felt himself flush when they all turn to him with an incredulous expression.

"Erza's a nice woman." He remembered the past few days he spent around the redhead where she repeatedly praise his smoothies (especially the strawberry one) and dote on Jack. "...if a little violent." Gray snorted at that muttering something about "understatement". "It's not like she's gonna murder you for this."

"No she won't, she's gonna do much worse." Natsu said with a grimace. "She's gonna torture us!"

"No, stop it! You're freaking me out!" Lucy shrieked.

Happy flew over behind Gray's shoulder. "Please, Gray, you gotta save me! I told them this was a bad idea but they forced me to come along!"

"YOU ARE SUCH A LIAR!" Lucy yelled furiously.

Natsu's determination was strengthening by the second as he glared at Gray, ignoring both Happy and Lucy. "I've gotta prove my power to Gramps!" He clenched his fists. "So, like it or not, I'm doin' this!"

Gray placed his hands on his hips, getting into Natsu's face. "Master ordered me to bring you home! I'll _drag_ you back to Fairy Tail if I have to!"

With that, an icy mist began to form around Gray's hand, and a second later, a cluster of ice spikes grew around his hand; much to Ben's surprise. Since he'd arrived at Fairy Tail, he'd never seen Gray's magic before, nor had he heard what it was, surprisingly. He hadn't expected it to be ice-oriented. Is that why he clash so often with Natsu? Nah, no person's that shallow.

"Don't make me hurt you, buddy!" Gray threatened.

Natsu quickly ignited his left fist in flames as he continued to glare at Gray. "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU _TRY_!" he challenged.

When the two wizards broke out their magic, the sailor on the boat looked surprised as he spoke to himself quietly. "Magic...?" Before any kind of fight could break out between the fire and ice wielders, the sailor stood up in his boat and spoke up, catching everyone's attention. "Excuse me, but are you wizards? Have you come to lift the curse on the island?"

Natsu, now distracted from his would-be fight with Gray, grinned confidently and put away his flames as he turned to the sailor. Lucy, however, was not quite as chipper as she was earlier, her confidence now wavering from the threat of being expelled from Fairy Tail.

"Yeah!" Natsu replied.

"Well, maybe..." Lucy said nervously.

"Not gonna happen!" Gray uttered through gritted teeth.

The sailor simply stared at the wizards and two tag-along for a moment with a somewhat shocked look in his eyes, but it didn't seem to be disbelief. After a moment, the man composed himself slightly before gesturing to his boat. "Get in."

"What?" the Celestial Spirit wizard said, surprised.

"Seriously?!" Natsu added.

The group was surprised the sailor had changed his mind so quickly upon learning they were there to save the island. However, Gray was not so much surprised as he was still angry with Natsu. "No way!" he exclaimed.

Gray moved in to grab Natsu, but the Dragon Slayer simply grinned devilishly and delivered a powerful backwards kick to Gray's stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him, and rendering him unable to move or speak. Natsu lifted the ice wizard up over his right shoulder, and turned to the sailor with a smirk on his face.

"There we go. Ready when you are, sir." Natsu proclaimed.

"Why are you bringing him with us tho? You could just leave him in the port." Ben told the other whilst getting on the rather small rowing boat.

"Yeah, I'm not sure if bringing him with us is such a good idea." Lucy inputted.

Natsu turned to the Celestial Spirit mage and Anodite, and countered, "We can't let him go back and tell the guild." 

"The others already know about your shenanigan though, especially if Gray know where to search for us." Ben pointed out but Natsu ignored him and started to sweat in trepidation.

"Cause the next person they'll send is Erza!"

Under the threat of Erza coming for them, Lucy and Happy's demeanor practically mirrored Natsu's. Without another word, the Celestial Wizard and flying cat both piled into the boat with Natsu hopping in after tossing Gray in. 

...

The first hour or so of the boat ride was mostly spent in silence with the captain of their vessel refusing to speak until they were closer to their destination. The sun had gone down, and the cool night air had begun to kick in. Gray was now fully recovered from Natsu's kick, but the latter had tied him up so he couldn't use his magic, which the ice wizard was less than pleased about. Natsu was currently enjoying himself and staring at the sea, Ben has healed him upon the first signs of him showing motion sickness. Lucy seemed to be growing more and more nervous as the trip progressed and Happy simply looked, well, happy.

Ben was clutching Jack and contemplating on what to do after this mission, Master would surely be very displease about it and Ben didn't know what the elderly man will dish out for him. 

"This is _your_ fault too, buddy! Why'd you decide to let us on?!" Gray yelled from where he was tied up.

The sailor, who had remained silent the entire trip and had been focusing on a small, glowing orb at the back of the boat, turned to Gray with a neutral expression. "The name is Bobo, and if you must now, I used to be a citizen of Galuna Island."

" _Used_ to be...?" Ben questioned.

Bobo didn't respond to Ben for a moment, much to the mana-user's confusion. Bobo's expression grew darker as he turned to face the sea. "But I had to flee... I just couldn't take it anymore." He turned to the group. "I should warn you. Tragedy befalls anyone who sets foot on the island. There's no avoiding it. That is, unless you're able to lift the curse."

After a second of pause, Bobo shifted his cloak and exposed his left arm; however, it was unlike anything they had expected. It appeared to be covered in a bizarre, dark purple exoskeleton. Whatever it was, it clearly wasn't human.

"...This vile demon's curse." Bobo concluded.

"Woah, your arm..." Gray gasped.

"What happened to it?" Lucy asked in mixture of shocked and horror.

"Is that...the curse...?" Ben queried, now that he think about it them man was leaking dark magic ~~much like Natsu~~.

Again, without replying, the cursed sailor took a look ahead of the boat, and saw an island coming into view. "We're almost there. _That's_ Galuna Island..."

For a second, the wizards and mana-user gawked at the island in curiosity and minor apprehension, until Lucy broke the silence by asking the question that was on everybody's mind.

"That's weird. Why's the mountaintop glowing like that?" she observed.

Sure enough, Lucy was right. The mountain on the island had a golden, yet ominous glow shining from it. Simply looking at it made Ben's skin crawl a bit, as though something unnatural were on the island. Then again, living there had given poor Bobo the arm of some kind of humanoid insect, so there was undoubtedly something sinister there.

It was then that Ben had a question, and turned around back to Bobo. However, when he did so, the cursed man had suddenly vanished!

"What the...?!" he shouted in alarm.

Everyone turned to see what the commotion was about, only to be just as shocked as Ben by their guide's disappearance.

"Where'd he go?!" Lucy said fearfully.

"Did he fall out?" Gray wondered, equally confused as the others.

"It's like he disappeared into thin air!" Happy remarked.

"How's that possible?!" Natsu jump to the side in search for their guide making the boat tilt dangerously.

"Woah, careful!" Ben warned the dragon slayer, clutching Jack protectively to his chest.

Lucy began to hear something as she looked over the edge of the boat, but couldn't place her finger on what it was. "What's that sound?" she voiced.

Ben heard it too and quickly realized it was coming from behind them. He spun around to see what it was, but was instantly shocked by what he saw; a massive tidal wave was heading straight for them!

"Uh, GUYS?!"

Everyone turned to Ben, but their eyes widened in shock and fear upon seeing the massive wave. 

"AAAAAHHH! TSUNAMIII!" cried Lucy.

"Now don't panic! Just hold on!" Gray yelled.

The group grew more fearful by the second as the wave began to come down on them, forming a whirlpool beneath all the while.

"Happy! Jack! Can't you grab onto the boat and fly?!" Lucy asked in the midst of her panic. "Or you Ben. Do something!"

"I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH!" Happy replied.

Without a word Ben's eyes glowed green and a transparent green protective barrier covered the boat just as the wave crash to them.

...

The waves crash them to the island and the barrier immediately shatter upon making contact to the sand and Lucy and the others slam to the boat roughly with Gray at the bottom.

"Ow!" 

"Get of me you idiots!"

"Stop kicking Luce!"

"Stop tugging my tail!"

Ben sighed at that and made a gesture to lift them up from one another and set the gently on the sand. 

"Ben's lucky, he landed just where he was before the wave." Lucy grumbled standing up and dusting herself.

"You're lucky you're not on the bottom, you guys are heavy!" Gray complained as Ben untie him.

"I can't help but wonder what happened to the guy who brought us here..." Lucy stated, worried for the sailor.

"Yeah. Right after he told us about the curse, he vanished..." Ben continued, also concerned.

"Forget about that stuff for now and let's go exploring!" Natsu yelled, flailing his arms in the air excitedly.

"Aye!" Happy chirped.

Lucy could only sweat drop at her two friends' attitudes. "We've been here like _thirty_ seconds, and you guys have _already_ forgotten about the mission?"

"Are they for real...?" Ben deadpanned.

After a moment, Lucy proceeded to pull out the job request that brought them here in the first place. Natsu and Happy regained their composure and began to focus on the task at hand once again.

"Apparently there's only one village on the _entire_ island. The village chief is the one who originally put in the request. So I guess we need to try and find _him_."

"Not so fast..." Everyone turned to see Gray, staring at them with a serious expression.

"You're not still thinkin' of taking them back to the guild, are you?" asked an incredulous Ben. "I don't think Natsu will come peacefully.

"You're right..." Gray said, "I'm comin' with you."

That was a surprise for everyone, especially for Natsu, Happy, and Lucy. First Ben had agreed to tag along, and now Gray?

"There's no way I'm gonna let the two of you clowns make S-Class before I do." Gray stated plainly. "And if you were kicked out, the guild would be pretty boring. Gramps'll be upset, but if we pull this off, he won't stay mad at us for long."

"What about me?" Ben asked.

Gray shrugged. "He thinks you have no idea how to handle this world, but seein' how you took down flame-brain over there, I think you can handle a cursed island."

The Ice-Make wizard grinned confidently. "Let's go."

Natsu and Lucy smiled while Happy jumped in excitement. "Yeah!" shouted the former two, while their blue, feline companion yelled, "Aye!"

"Well then," Ben grinned, "what are we waiting for?!" Jack chirped.

...

After a long trek through the jungle, Ben, Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Happy finally arrived at the one and only village on Galuna Island. It was impossible to tell what the village was like, partly because it was now night time, but also because the village was surrounded by high wooden walls with pointed carved tops. Posted on the main gate was the dreaded "Keep Out" sign.

"Well, we found the village." Gray noted.

"Check out that gate…" Natsu remarked. "When they say 'Keep Out' they mean it."

"So, what, do we just knock?" Ben asked, unsure of how to answer a wizarding job request; especially since he wasn't one.

Lucy answered by stepping forward and yelling out, "Is anyone there!? We came to help you!"

The only answer they received was silence.

"Let's bust in," Natsu said, an impish grin on his face making Ben roll his eyes.

"No way!" Lucy yelled at him.

Finally, a voice called out from the top of the wall. "Who's there?"

The group looked up to see two guards staring down at them.

"We're wizards from Fairy Tail," Lucy answered, "We're responding to your request!"

"Why weren't we notified that you'd accepted the request?" the voice asked suspiciously.

 _'Because they stole the request and thus it was not approved and signed to be sent back to you?'_ Ben thought wryly.

Lucy tried to come up with a reason, but Gray beat her to the punch, and called out, "There was probably just a mix-up with the paperwork!"

"Then let me see your guild emblems," the lookout challenged, "right now!"

Natsu moved his scarf, which had partially concealed his red guild mark on his right shoulder. Happy shifted his knapsack to reveal his green mark on his back. Gray lifted his shirt to show his blue emblem on the right side of his chest. Lastly, Lucy showed the pink emblem on the back of her right hand.

Needless to say, the guards were stunned. Those emblems were legit!

"They're here…" the lookouts stammered in shock. "They're _really_ here!"

The sentry was about to open the gate immediately, but stopped when he had noticed a certain person in the group had not shown them any guild mark.

"Wait…that proves who _you_ are," one of the guards replied, "but what about _those two_?" Even without seeing him, Ben knew that the guy was pointing right at him and Jack.

"They're with us!" Natsu snapped. "You gonna turn down extra help?"

The sentry didn't really have an answer to that; after all, with the situation the village was in, they'd need all the help they can get. Ben was very grateful as the gate soon opened.

"It's like we're walking into a giant monster's mouth." Happy commented, noting how the pointed ends of the gate resembled sharp teeth.

"Are you trying to freak me out…?" Lucy said, annoyed.

The group stepped forward, only to be greeted by a large crowd of people wearing cloaks, hoods and cloth across their faces, concealing almost all of their features.

"I am Moka, the village chief," the lead figure said, leaning on a staff with a crescent moon on the top, "and on behalf of everyone here, I welcome you. Pleasantries aside, there's something you need to see; now, my people!"

The villagers as one dropped their cloaks, and for a moment, Ben thought they were going to attack them. Instead, the group was greeted by a familiar, yet disturbing, sight.

For the most part, the people all looked human, but every single one of them had a monstrous body part. Arms with claws, legs with talons on the feet, even horns on heads; no one was unchanged, not even the smallest children.

"It's just like the guy on the boat," Gray murmured at the green eyed teen beside him.

"No wonder they needed help," Ben whispered, "this is awful."

Natsu, on the other hand, noticed something else. "Oh, wow, your sideburns are huge!" he pointed at the sideburns on the elderly chief's face, which stretched down to his waist.

"Not that!" Moka snapped, "I meant my arm!" he held up his purple, clawed arm for emphasis. "Everyone on the island is suffering a disfigurement because of this curse; not even the animals are unaffected."

"Not to sound rude," Ben said, "but are you sure it's a curse? It could be some kind of infectious disease or toxin."

"We've consulted with dozens of doctors, young man." Moka said wearily. "But every one of them says that no such disease exists."

"Can I try something first before I'm convinced it's a curse?" Ben asked.

When the village chief nodded Ben released Jack from his hold and offered his hand to one of the villagers near him. The woman took it and Ben grasp the monstrous hand with both of his and his eyes glowed green. " **Indica mihi, quid quaeris**." 

The hand glowed as he put more and more mana to it, the villagers all watch in awe as Ben closed his eyes to concentrate.

After a minute of searching though the woman's magic Ben release the hand. "There are a lot of dark magic in there." He confirmed making the villagers murmur among themselves, Ben raised a hand and when they stopped he continued. "I'm not sure what it is but there's no trace of light magic particles anywhere."

"It all started when the moon fell under an evil spell." Moka told them.

"An evil spell?" Lucy repeated.

"Since ancient times, this island has absorbed the light of the moon, causing it to glow almost as beautifully as the moon itself." Moka's voice turned fearful. "However, three years ago, the moon's light turned purple and bathed the island in an eerie glow."

"Hey, everyone!" Happy called out, pointing up, "The moon is coming out from behind the clouds!"

The wizards and superhero looked up to see that the light of the moon that came down was indeed a creepy shade of purple. What the..? The hair on the back of Ben's neck stood up and Jack started to whine. Ben pluck the baby necrofriggian from the sky and hold him close to his chest.

"Stand back," Moka warned, "the change is upon us!"

Before anyone could ask what he meant, all of the villagers began to convulse, moaning in absolute agony. Their bodies began to shift, scales, fur and spikes covering them; now, instead of a single area of their bodies, everyone in the village looked like creatures that Ben had only seen in fantasy pictures.

"I am sorry if our appearance frightens you." Moka said. He was now sporting purple, scaly skin, as well as fangs, pointed ears and a pair of horns.

"It's all right," Ben replied, not wanting to make them feel any worse about their appearances. "My cousin turned into things that are way scarier."

"These poor people." Lucy whispered.

"Oh man," Natsu muttered, before his face suddenly brightened, "YOU GUYS LOOK SO COOL!"

Everyone else could only stare at him in disbelief while he started to gush about how awesome they looked, at least, in his mind.

"Huh…?" everyone uttered, dumbfounded.

"He said we looked cool…" a male villager repeated in shock.

"No one's ever said that about us before…" a female villager said.

"Natsu!" Lucy slapped him upside the head, "That's insensitive! They don't want to be like this!"

 _'You're the one being insensitive.'_ Ben deadpan. _'They're obviously pleased with Natsu's word, probably because others condemned them for how they look.'_

"Really?" Natsu asked, confused, "Well, sorry about that. I guess we should help them out."

"That's why we came here in the first place," Ben said exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of his nose. He's starting to feel the inevitable headache coming. He needs aspirin.

"Get a clue, man," Gray said, equally exasperated.

"Anyway, as you can see," Moka said, trying to get everyone back on track, "Whenever the moon comes out, everyone in the village takes on the form of a demon. If this isn't a curse, then what is it? We return to normal when the sun rises; however, there are some among us who lose their minds and never change back. The only thing we can do for those poor souls is to put them to death."

The others were shocked. This wasn't just a curse that changed how they looked; it drove them insane and made them dangerous enough to force the villagers to kill them!

 _'That's probably why they wanted help so badly.'_ Ben thought. ' _If everyone was okay on the inside, they probably wouldn't be so upset.'_

"But they might get better someday!" Natsu protested. The thought of killing someone, especially those close to you...

"If we wait for too long, they will kill us all." Moka replied sadly. "We've tried to capture them, but they always break free." Tears began falling from the old man's eyes as he pulled out a photograph. "There is no way to reverse it. This curse has forced me to take the life of my own son."

Shoulders shaking in grief, Moka let the photograph fall to the ground, letting the others see a picture of a man with wide eyes, a mustache and goatee, and a bandanna on his head.

"That's the guy who took us here on the boat!" Lucy said softly, "We just saw him yesterday and…"

"Shh!" Gray interrupted, and whispered. "Now I understand why he just disappeared like that. He's dead, but his soul couldn't rest in peace."

 _'A ghost…'_ Lucy thought, beginning to panic.

Ben started to get worried; first magic and a cursed island, and now ghosts? He does have a few exorcism spells but he didn't really want to have flashbacks from when they fought Ghost Freak.

Moka picked up the photo, then gave the group a low bow.

"Please lift the curse." he begged. "If you do not, it is only a matter of time before we fall victim to it and die!"

"We won't let that happen!" Natsu shouted, then lowered his voice when Moka looked at him. "We're going to fix this, I promise."

Everyone else in the group nodded in agreement. Silently, Ben swore that no one else was going to die because of this curse.

"There is only one way to lift this curse," Moka said, "The moon… the moon must be wiped from the sky!"

 _'Okay,'_ Ben thought, ' _this might be harder than I thought it would be.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's the first of Galuna Arc.
> 
> Thx for reading!


	5. Deliora and Moon Drip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the Grammatical errors and mistakes throughout the chapter.
> 
> Enjoy!

The village's chief request, in Ben's honest opinion is a very impossible and risky job. Now, he doesn't claim to be man of science -that's Gwen's job- but Ben's pretty sure destroying the moon will cause a major disaster.

"I never knew the moon could be so creepy." Happy said sadly.

"Hurry up and close the window!" Lucy shouted. "You heard the chief; we have to stay out of the moonlight! You may not care, but I don't wanna risk turning into some freaky monster!"

"I'm not so sure about this job, guys." Natsu said, looking more irritated than worried.

"How can these people expect us to destroy the moon?" Gray asked.

"I wonder how many punches it would take?" Natsu wondered, raising a fist. "You think I can handle it?"

"You're seriously considering it?!" Ben screamed in shock. The hell?

"For real," Gray agreed, "Don't be stupid, man!"

"Natsu, there isn't a wizard strong enough who could do that." Lucy said, shaking her head.

"But that's what we were hired to do!" Natsu objected. "If we back out, it'll make Fairy Tail look bad!"

"What they're asking can't be done!" Gray countered, and then asked, "How were you planning to get to the moon anyway?"

"With Happy, of course," Natsu said, pointing at the cat.

"Huh!?" Happy shook his head, "I don't think so."

"Okay," Ben hold up one finger in front of the dragon slayer to emphasize his point. "First of all, that would totally not work, because humans, and I'm sure even dragon slayers and flying talking cats, are not equipped on breathing in the space, you won't even make it in the stratosphere conscious because of lack of oxygen and crash on the ground in a matter of seconds."

Jack nodded beside him in agreement.

"Stratosphere?" Gray questioned.

"A layer of the atmosphere protecting us from the UV rays of the sun." He told the ice mage dismissively and hold out another finger. "Second, It will take much more than a few punches and roar to destroy the moon, even if you someway, somehow destroyed it, the debris left by the destruction of the satellite will backfire on us and cause meteors to fall here and cause waves of destruction and change the planets living conditions from livable to literal hell or arctic cold every single day."

By this both Lucy and Gray look pale and huddled in the corner.

"Thirdly, the moon keep the earth on it's axis, having it gone will tilt it to the point that it will be on it's side and one side will have perpetual day while the other have perpetual night and massive tidal waves, way bigger than the one that crash us here, will be a common occurrence and cause a lot of damages. And that's not all of it, it will kill a lot of animals of all kinds."

This time Happy joined Gray and Lucy in their horror. "Fish will be extinct?! Blasphemy!"

"That's what you're concern about?" Gray deadpan.

"Yeah, he just basically said we're doomed and that's your concern?!" Lucy shouted at the feline in incredulity.

"Food is life!" He told the blonde, high-fiving Jack.

"So there's no way to complete this mission?" Natsu deflated.

"Hey, the job just says to end the curse. Just because these guys think the only way to do that is to destroy the moon, doesn't mean that it's the _only_ way. What I felt when I examine that woman's weird, it's like she never had a light ethernano particles in her. But I think we can get to the bottom of this."

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "I'll bet that if we do some investigating around the island, we'll find the real source of the curse and stop it."

Anything else Lucy might have said was interrupted when Gray threw his shirt at her face. Ben was both impressed and creeped out. The Ice-Make wizard had stripped down to his boxers and the silver necklace he wore in less time than it took to blink. Weeks of seeing the display never cease to freak Ben out, though over the past few days he manage to reign in his terror, at least he's not in his birthday suit, is what he told himself every time.

"You kids can do what you want," Gray remarked as he pulled his socks off. "But after the day I've had, I need some shut eye."

"Please don't take off any more…" Lucy pleaded, a sweat drop running down her head.

"Yeah, our investigation starts tomorrow morning," Natsu added, and then jumped onto the sleeping mats that the villagers had laid out for them. "Let's hit the sack!"

Happy jumped face-first onto the pillow. "Aye, sir!" came his muffled cry.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Gray replied, lying on his sleeping mat face-down.

Ben agreed and headed to his own mat; it had been almost two days since he'd gotten any sleep, and he was dead tired. He took off his hero jacket and folded it up to use it as a pillow.

"Alright…night, guys." Ben said as he laid down on the futon, Jack was on his right and cuddled on his chest.

"Night!" they replied.

He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, allowing himself to steadily fall asleep. The last thing he thought of before he drifted into slumber was his family and friends back home, and how long he would be in this crazy magical world.

...

The next morning, just as the sun shone, the team set out. Natsu, Gray and Happy looked like they could have used a few more hours of sleep, Ben though, was used to getting up early, either when he was needed to save the day, or when he needed to go to school and so was carrying the still somewhat half-asleep necrofriggian in his arms. Lucy was another matter entirely.

"I hate waking up this early," Natsu whined.

"Hey, you guys kept me up all night with your snoring," Lucy snapped, "and you don't hear _me_ complaining! Let's go!"

"Aye," Natsu, Gray, and Happy all moaned.

"You guys want to hit the big leagues, right? You gotta make sacrifices." Ben told thee others and started to walk in one direction.

"How come you're okay?" Gray asked.

"I'm used to running on only a few hours of sleep." Ben explained. "I've lost count of all the times I've had to stay up late or wake up early to fight some monster, alien menace, or something."

"See, Ben's got the right attitude!" Lucy pulled out a silver key and pointed it. **"Open, Gate of the Clock Constellation: Horologium!"**

In a puff of smoke, a tall brown grandfather clock, with long black arms and short black legs, appeared. It had a glass case, a Roman-numerical clock at the center, and a small face at the top with slit eyes and a thin, twirl mustache-like mouth.

"The time is seven forty-eight," the spirit said cheerfully.

"Um, did you need to know the time?" Ben asked, confused as to why Lucy summoned a clock-man. She could have just ask him as Ben has a smart watch (Galvan Tech of course, it work like plumber badge too).

"No, it's because she's lazy," Natsu told him.

Before Ben could ask what he meant, he saw Lucy open up Horologium's glass case and climbed inside.

"Let's go, the lady says forcefully." The spirit said, repeating what Lucy had said from within him, and then marched towards the mountain.

"She… uses him to travel?" Ben asked.

"Yep." Natsu replied as he, Happy and Gray walked after the spirit. "Because she's lazy."

"That's such a waste of magic." Ben told the blonde. "What if we stumbled upon something and we need to defend ourselves? How will you defend yourself?" From what he understand from when Lucy explained to him how her magic worked, she can't summon more than one spirit and when she dismiss one or the spirit disappear by itself it will take minutes to reload her magic enough to summon another.

"Then you can just cast protective barrier on me until I can recover or just beat them down, the lady said in finality." The clock spirit replied and walk past him.

"Yeah, just protect you." Ben huffed before continuing his walking.

"Do you really think there's another way to lift the curse?" Natsu asked.

"There really isn't another choice." Ben replied. "The only one of us who could get to the moon is me, and even then I don't think I'd be able to destroy it. Even if I could, it would throw the world's climate into chaos and lot of people could die, like I said yesterday. "

"Wait…hang on…" Gray interrupted, giving Ben an incredulous look, " _you_ could get to the moon?!"

Ben shrugged, and replied, "Yeah, I'm not fully human remember? Anodite and necrofriggian can survive in space. That's where Jack goes whenever he's not playing games on his tablet or with me or others, he's eating solar plasma whenever I don't feed him mana."

The wizards and cat simply stared at Ben in astonishment, he ca survive in space? Jack too? And what the heck is solar plasma?

Jack yawned from his position and Ben shifted the little guy, the baby's head on his shoulder and Ben supporting his back. Once Jack settled he continued to snore silently.

 _'Damn…'_ Gray thought. _'Is this guy for real…?'_

"But even if you _could_ destroy the moon, it could cause salmon to go extinct." Happy mentioned. "And they're my favorite fish!"

"Will you guys keep it down?" Horologium asked, "We don't know what's lurking out here, so we shouldn't draw any attention, the lady demands impatiently."

"You're not even walking." Gray rolled his eyes. "And we've got you covered on all sides. What are you worrying about?"

"Listen, this curse is freaking me out, and I'm scared, she says nervously." Horologium repeated dutifully.

"Are you kidding?" Natsu asked, pumping his fist, "S-Class quests are awesome!"

"Why do I get the feeling that we'll end up blowing something up?"

"Yeah," Gray said arrogantly, "but I bet I could just freeze that stupid curse."

"You guys are idiots, she says disparagingly." Horologium replied, though he sounded like he agreed.

Ben was going to give a snarky reply, but was stopped by the sound of giant footsteps. Everyone turned to see a giant figure behind them. It was easily thirty-feet-tall, but the sun was behind it, so the light got in their eyes, preventing them from getting a good look. Whatever it was, it started to laugh in high-pitched, menacing hiss.

"Anyone know what that is?" Ben asked the others as he soothe the whining infant that was just woken up by the sound.

"IT'S HUGE!" Gray exclaimed.

"No," Natsu said, gathering flames around his hands, "but I bet it wants a fight!"

"What are you waiting for?! Beat it up, you guys, she yells frighteningly." Horologium said.

" **Hespera Sophian**!" He yelled creating a strong protective barrier around them just as the rat pummeled to it. "Natsu!" He called out to the dragon slayer just as he vanish the barrier for Natsu to leap and slam his flaming fist to the creature's nose.

"It's a giant rat, she exclaims worriedly," Horologium said, sounding rather concerned himself.

Indeed, it was a giant rat, but its fur was a light green and it wore what looked like a maid's apron and bonnet. In Humungousaur's mind, this was definitely the weirdest thing he'd seen in this universe so far, and it would certainly give some of the stuff he'd seen back home a run for its money as well.

The rat got up and rubbed a paw against its now-sore jaw, and then took a deep breath. Not wanting to let himself or his friends get hit by whatever it was about to do, Gray ran forward and put his right fist on top of his left hand, which was palm-up. A cold mist gathered around his body.

 **"Ice Make: Shield!"** a giant fan-shaped shield of ice erupted from the ground. Unfortunately, it didn't do any good, because the rat belched forth a noxious, foul-smelling gas.

Jack whined at the smell and flied upwards and blew icy breathe to the creature and freezing it's feet. When the rat made another motion to deliver gas attack to them Ben made a giant green fist with his mana and punch the rat on the jaw knocking the creature out.

Lucy sighed in relief and Ben was about to tell them that they should get leaving when he notice both Natsu and Gray pummeling the giant's rodents head. "I think it's done over guys."

"We should kick its butt while we have the chance!" both wizards yelled at once.

Ben rolled his eyes at the two and turn to Lucy who was returning from the scene after escaping earlier.

"Hey, guys!" she pointed in the direction she'd come from, "I found something!"

From Lucy's tone, it sounded important, so Ben lifted the two wizards from where they were beating the unconscious rat up and continued to hold them high up in the air as he followed Lucy. 

After catching up to Lucy, they found themselves in front of a large temple; its structure covered cracks and vines, meaning that it was either very old or badly-maintained. Crescent moons decorated every doorway and every pillar. He gently set the two wizards down before entering the temple with Jack and Happy.

"What's the big idea taking us outta the fight like that!?" Natsu raged as he followed inside.

Ben rolled his eyes. He seriously need to get that check, it can't be good doing so much. "Because I'm pretty sure that that rat had nothing to do with the curse, and we need to end it as soon as we can before anyone else dies."

Chastised, Natsu rubbed the back of his head. "Right, sorry."

Then Ben remembered something from the fight. "Hey, Natsu, how come that gas affected you so badly? It was like you almost passed out."

Natsu looked embarrassed, so Happy answered for him. "Dragon Slayers have stronger senses than most, so the smell was really bad for him."

"I see." Ben nodded and didn't ask anymore questions. Just a few moments after he turn hi back to the two, Natsu and Gray started arguing about something. 

"Knock it off!" Lucy half-shouted, "This temple is old, and I don't want it collapsing on us because you two idiots started another fight."

Ben looked around. The inside of the temple was indeed old, and looked like it very well could start to fall apart.

"Wow…this place is massive." Lucy noted.

"So, what's with all the moon symbols?" He asked, pointing to the multiple carvings on the walls. And the thing that villagers blame about their curse is the moon too. Coincidence?

"Well, it makes sense, Galuna used to be called the 'Island of the Moon'." Gray responded.

"A moon island, a moon curse." Ben smiled wryly. "I think I'm sensing a theme here."

"Yeah.." Lucy said to herself. "You really gotta wonder what all of it means."

Natsu, who had stopped paying attention, started stomping on the stone floor. "Man, this place is a wreck. The floor doesn't even look safe to walk on."

"Well, don't go stomping on it!" Lucy yelled. Her words came too late, however, because the floor did indeed break apart, sending the entire team plummeting into a dark hole.

"Natsu, you idiot." Gray yelled as he fell. "Look what you did!"

Ben turn headfirst to the ground bellow them and cast a spell he learned from Charmcaster. 

" **Amplusmica**." He swerved his hands in a slashing motion, scattering powder and the ground erupted in pale green explosion, the rocks turn into bunch of flowers to soften their landing. He turn back to the falling rocks and shattered them to smaller pieces.

They crashed to the bed of flowers. "Hey!" Natsu looked around frantically as soon as he reared his head out from the flowers. "Is everybody okay?"

"I'd be better if you hadn't knocked out the floor!" Lucy retorted, glaring at the pink-haired wizard.

"Here's a thought," Gray growled, lying on his stomach, thankfully the flowerbed did it's job and soften his landing. "If you think before you act, maybe you wouldn't cause so much destruction!"

Jack and Happy flied in after them, Jack immediately went over the flowers to search for his Daddy who has not risen out of the flowers yet.

"Hey, hang on…" Natsu looked around and noticed someone missing. "Where's Ben?"

"Here!" A hand peaked out from the right and Jack immediately went to it and helped his Daddy get up.

"You alright?" Gay ask as he near the Jacket clad teen. Ben nodded and with a flick of a finger the flowers vanished causing Natsu to slam face first on the ground. 

"Ouch!" Oops, apparently he had yet to stand up before Ben vanished them. "Sorry.."

Lucy however, was less sympathetic. "Serves him right for destroying the floor." She huffed, walking away from the dragon slayer without helping him up.

"That's a pretty useful trick Ben." Happy said.

"It's a spell from a-" How should his relationship with Charmcaster? "-n acquaintance. Unlike you guys, I can't take a blow like that head one without serious injuries." Seriously, the resilience of the Earthland's (who name it that? Earth and Land?) residence is unprecedented, he's getting more and more convince that he somehow landed on an anime as the days went on.

"Happy, Jack, can either of you fly us out of here?" Lucy asked. Jack shook his head.

"No, sorry," Happy replied. "That's too many trips for me."

"I think I can lift us there." He told the blond and just as he covered them with his mana, Natsu got his attention.

"Look, a secret cave!" The Dragon Slayer ran through said cave, yelling, "This is so awesome!"

"Would you quit running around like a crazy person!?" Gray shouted as he run after the other.

"Seriously?" Ben asked Lucy as she dusted herself some more. "Is he always like this?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Lucy sighed.

"He's gonna drive me insane one day if I didn't get home soon." Ben sighed, the blond made a sympathetic noise and went to follow the others.

Thankfully, Natsu had stopped not too far ahead, staring up at…

"Whoa," Ben breathed.

"That's what I said," Natsu said, not losing sight of what lay in front of them.

It was a massive chunk of ice, easily fifty feet tall and fairy circular; the ice itself was a light blue that seemed to glow with an unearthly, and yet calming, light. But the ice itself wasn't what caught everyone's attention, it was what inside it, a creature barely smaller than the ice that held it. It was covered in scales, fangs and claws and look dangerous.

"Anyone know what that is?" Lucy asked quietly, not sure if he should be loud in front of such a dangerous-looking beast.

"That's impossible," Gray whispered, stepping forward with absolute shock and horror written all over his face. "It's Deliora!"

"What's a Deliora?" Ben asked, he tried to think of the lessons Levy gave him and came up blank.

"How? How could this happen?" His voice grew louder and slightly hysterical. "How is it here? What the hell is it doing on Galuna Island!?"

"You've seen this thing before?" Natsu asked, less unsettled by the monster and more by the fact that Gray rarely lost his composure like this.

"T-there's no way…" Gray didn't seem to hear them, his arms trembling.

Lucy grabbed his shoulder. "Gray, try to calm down."

The ice wizard took a deep breath and his shaking lessened, but his eyes had a haunted look about them. What the hell happened?

"Can you tell us about this?" Lucy asked gently, pointing at the creature.

"It's Deliora, the Demon of Destruction," Gray told them.

"Demon of Construction?" Natsu asked.

"Destruction," Happy corrected.

"But why is it here?" Gray asked to no one in particular. "It doesn't make any sense?"

Demon of Destruction? Talk about ominous. It feels like Natsu does, much more than the villagers. Dark. 

He was about to tell the others to leave Gray alone to gather his cool when he sound of footsteps behind them caught his attention. He gestured to the others to take cover behind some boulders.

They hid just as two people entered the cavern. One was a young man who was fairly short; he had a green coat that went down to his knees, spiky blue hair and the thickest eyebrows Ben had ever seen. The second person was another man; he was shirtless, but wore a pair of blue pants. The strangest thing about him; however, was his doglike face, which looked like someone had combined a human face with a dog's. Sticking out of his shaggy brown hair was a pair of dog-ears.

"The voices seem to be coming from down here." The blue-haired guy said, then sighed. "I hate being awake during the day."

The guy with the thick eyebrows continued to speak. "So, Toby, were you exposed to the Moon Drip? I mean, you've got those pointy ears…"

So that might be the caused of thee natives transformation, if they go with what the guy with thick eyebrows implied.

"I already told you, they're a fashion statement, you jerk!" The dog-man, Toby, yelled indignantly, making wild gestures as he does so.

The blue-haired man chuckled. "I was just teasing you."

"You don't have to be so mean about it," Toby grumbled.

"Moon Drip." Lucy whispered. "Could that be the name of the curse?"

"Must be." Ben replied. 

"Yuka, Toby." A new voice called out, and a young woman walked into the cavern, "Something terrible has happened."

The woman had violet-pink hair that was tied into pigtails, and wore a short, pink-and-black dress with white lace around the edges. She also wore black thigh-length boots and a strange, scarf-like thing around her neck that looked like long feathers.

"What is it, Sherry?" The man now known as Yuka asked.

"It's Angelica." Sherry said mournfully. "She's been attacked, and I'm so sad."

"You're moping around because someone beat up your stupid pet rat!?" Toby barked.

A light bulb went off in Ben's mind, as well as those of the Fairy Tail wizards. That rat that had attacked them was with these guys!?

"Angelica is not a rat." Sherry countered fiercely. "She's a brave hunter, prowling the jungle to protect us. She is… love."

As their conversation descended into whispers, Ben turned to Happy and twirled his finger around his ear, the universal sign for crazy. The cat nodded in agreement.

"These guys are a bunch of weirdos," Lucy whispered, "especially the chick with the pet rat."

"Yeah, I've never heard of anyone calling a big, ugly rat 'love', before." Ben agreed. "That...thing... can't even be classified as better alternative than The Worst." He shuddered, remembering the yellow alien his cousin turn into.

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the trio. "Judging from the scent I picked up, they're not from the island." He stated.

"And they don't look like they have the 'demon curse'." Happy pointed out.

"Intruders, you say?" Yuka's raised voice brought their attention back to the strange trio.

"And it's almost time to begin collecting moonlight again." Sherry sighed, "Oh, this makes me so sad. This news will displease the Cold Emperor. We should get rid of the intruders before he finds out. Yes, we must find them before the moon's first light."

Cold Emperor? Seriously? What kind of name is that? Couldn't he have chosen a cooler and much more intimidating name to match his villainous scheme? Well, at least they didn't have to guess what the trio's leaders magic is. 

"Agreed," Yuka said, a sadistic smile on his face. Toby only nodded.

"If they were here, then they've seen Deliora, and that means we can't allow them to live." Sherry said, "We shall give them the gift of eternal rest. We'll give them… love."

"You're talking about death, right?" Toby asked, confused.

 _'And, that's it.'_ Ben thought. _'We need them out now. For Gray's sake.'_

He turn around and picked a small rock with his magic, his eyes glowing green like the rock, and toss it to the other direction whilst simultaneously pulling the others down to hide.

Thankfully the trio bit to his plan and went after the sound. Lucy let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Nice thinking, Ben."

"But why didn't we just jump those guys and beat some answers out of them?" Natsu asked grumpily, itching for a fight.

"They could lie." He told the dragon slayer, rolling his eyes at the others inclination to 'Beat Fist Ask Later' type of approach. "I'd rather learn as much as we can, then compare our info to theirs. Besides," He shot a look at Gray, who was still staring at the frozen Deliora, "I don't think Gray is in any shape to fight."

Natsu sighed; as much as he didn't want to admit it, Ben was right. "This job keeps raising more questions."

"Aye," Happy agreed. "Like, who is this 'Cold Emperor'?" Jack nodded beside the blue feline.

"Well, I doubt he's called that because he's all warm and fuzzy." Ben said sardonically. "And he's also someone who has no naming sense, at all."

"That's what's bothering you?" Lucy sweat dropped.

"Names are important, I named some of my cousin's alien transformations." He shrugged. "Now that I think about it, I know someone name Lucy back from my world."

Lucy perked up at that. "Is she beautiful like me?" She asked blinking seductively.

Ben nodded. "Very beautiful." He pulled out his phone. "And very important."He search for the photo in his gallery. "She's the single most important person in history."

Lucy fixed her hair, and coughed, readying herself for the picture. "Here." It was a picture of a hairy ape-like animal and Lucy turn pale upon seeing it.

"Isn't she beautiful? The oldest fossil ever discovered and the ancestors of homo sapiens or humans, it's an **Australopithecus afarensis** she's nicknamed Lucy. See the resemblance between you two?"

"They do look a like." Happy nodded, Jack was nodding his head too in agreement. "Lucy, you never told me you have a twin."

"WHAT RESEMBLANCE?! THAT'S AN UGLY APE! AND SHUT UP YOU DAMN CAT!"

"Hey, that's my ancestor you're insulting." Ben frowned, tucking the phone back to his pocket.

Gray, meanwhile, was off in his own little world. _'Deliora… what could they want with it? And how the hell did they even find it and bring it here?'_

"Gray?" Lucy asked after recovering from the initial shock of seeing 'her twin'. "What do you know about this thing?"

"It was sealed away inside a glacier on the Northern Continent a decade ago." Gray answered. "An immortal demon ravaged the town of Isval; countless people lost their lives. My master, Ur, the woman who taught me my magic, sacrificed everything to seal it.

"I don't know if it has anything to do with the curse, but that demon doesn't belong here. We have to find out who this 'Cold Emperor' is. If he's tarnished Ur's legacy, he's gonna regret the day he was born!" He raged, a cold mist billowing off of his arms.

Ben sighed at that before collecting himself and putting a comforting hand on the ice-mage's shoulder. "And we will beat him up, but first you need to calm down and collect yourself. You're not thinking straight."

"Why don't we just take out this stupid demon right now?" Natsu asked, approaching the frozen Deliora, "A little fire'll do the trick."

Something in Gray suddenly snapped as he shrugged Ben's hand off and punched Natsu in the jaw, sending him tumbling to the ground. Happy gaped at the ice wizard while Lucy put her hands to her mouth in shock.

"Whoa, Hey." Ben put on a placating hand gesture. "That might have just been a little overboard, dude."

"What's the big idea, Gray!?" Natsu demanded, getting up from the ground.

The Dragon Slayer paused when he saw the dead serious look Gray was shooting him.

"I don't want you or your flames anywhere near it!" He shouted, and then lowered his voice dangerously. "If the ice melts and Deliora gets free, nothing will be able to stop it."

Ben honestly doubt that, and he also have a feeling Natsu's flame will do much in speeding up the melting than the moon drip that was being use to melt the ice, which he can sense a lot of magic particles off.

"Oh, come on," Natsu said, his tone serious, "You really think a chunk of ice that big would be easy to melt?"

Gray tried to retort, but fell silent.

"Gray." Ben said, distracting the other. "Can you tell us how your master stopped this thing?"

The ice wizard nodded. "My master used a spell called Iced Shell to trap Deliora. It made a type of ice that can never be melted. It's so strong that even the most powerful fire spells have no effect on it. But if these people knew that the ice couldn't be melted, why would they bring it here?"

"Maybe it had something to do with that Moon Drip thing that they were talking about?" Lucy offered.

"You might be right." Gray said. "So if they're going to wait for the moon to come out, then we'll do the same."

Ben hummed. "Haven't done stakeout in a while, right Nippy?" The baby necrofriggian made a noise of agreement. "Might be a little rusty."

Argh," Natsu moaned, "It's the middle of the afternoon, I'll die of boredom!"

Five minutes later, the Dragon Slayer was sound asleep on the rocky floor.

"Well, that was fast," Lucy commented, used to her friend's ridiculous behavior by now.

"Aye," Happy agreed.

Moments later, Lucy was sitting on a rock a meter from the snoozing Dragon Slayer with her head resting on her left palm. "Must be nice," Lucy remarked, looking at Natsu, "he doesn't have to worry about anything but eating, fighting, and sleeping."

"Aye," Happy replied, "that's Natsu for yah."

"I gotta admit," conceded Lucy, "I'm a little bit jealous."

Lucy turned her attention to Gray, who was sitting on a rock in front of the frozen Deliora. He was staring at the ground with a brooding expression. In fact, the onyx-haired teen was recalling a memory of training with his Master Ur when he was a boy.

"Ugh…" Lucy moaned, "I know I agreed to wait, but this is so boring."

"Aye," Happy replied.

Ben snorted. "Sure, the life of a fugitive is boring."

"Oh, I know!" Lucy said excitedly, ignoring Ben's comment.

She pulled out a silver key from her key pouch and thrusted it forward. " **Open, Gate of the Harp Constellation: Lyra**!"

In a puff of pink smoke, a young girl, with orange waist-length hair that curled at the end, appeared. She wore a long blue dress with yellow hearts printed by her waist, leather shoes, and had a pink bonnet on top of her head. She had round blush marks on her cheeks, and small white wings and a large harp on her back.

"Oh wow!" Lyra smiled brightly, waving her right hand in front of her. "I haven't seen you in forever, Lucy!"

"Hey, Lyra." Lucy greeted, smiling warmly to the girl.

Jack tilted his head at the girl.

"Say," Lyra looked at the blond wizard in slight annoyance, "Why don't you call me anymore? It's not fair." Her demeanor quickly brightened as she continued, "I'd love to help you out, but you ignore me, meanie."

"Meanie, huh." Lucy gave the spirit a pointed look. "You're the one who told me you were only available three days a month."

Lyra gaped and looked at Lucy in slight shock. "Are you sure about that…?"

Happy sweat dropped. "Great…another weirdo."

"Tell me about it." Ben muttered. Feeling weirded the longer he stared at the two.

"So, what would you like to hear me sing?" Lyra asked animatedly, "any requests?"

"Nope. Whatever you want," Lucy replied.

"You know any songs about fish?" Happy asked eagerly.

Ben inwardly chuckled. 'Of course Happy would ask that.'

"Okay!" Lyra beamed, giving a thumbs-up. "I've got a song I think you're going to love, Lucy!"

"Lyra has the most beautiful singing voice." the Celestial wizard said.

"Well, Mira's a singer too, yah know." Happy retorted. "And she sings songs about fish for me."

"Of course she does." Ben rolled his eyes.

Lyra sat down and removed her harp from her back, setting it down it front of her. She ran her hands across the harp's strings, creating a calm, lovely sound.

Happy gasped in surprise from the beautiful melody before a peaceful smile crossed his face.

"Words are born into air…" Lyra sang, "…and quickly fade out in the wind…but they find their way inside you…where they live forevermore…When the skies are dark and full of rain…look inside of your heart…"

 _'A good song.'_ Ben thought with an approving nod, Jack also seem please, if the way he fumbled about is any indication. _'If a little inappropriate...'_ He glanced from the corner of his eyes, the ice-mage was still slumped over.

As Lyra continued her song, Gray clenched his teeth as his body trembled slightly. He had suddenly remembered the time when Ur was teaching him how to perform 'Ice-Make: Shield'. As a result, a stray tear fell down his face as he choked back his sobs.

When Lyra finished her melody, she, Lucy, and Happy overheard Gray's sniffling and looked at him in concern.

"Gray?" Lucy said worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" He choked. "I'm fine."

"You seem upset." Happy pointed out. 

"Well, one of Lyra's talents is singing songs that relate to what her audience is feeling." Lucy said calmly.

 _'And you din't bother to say that earlier?'_ Ben sighed. _'Looks like this will be a strenuous mission.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack eat mana just as much as solar plasma since he's part Anodite. Also, Ben, in my opinion can be book smart if he tried hard enough. I mean he has eidetic memories, good leadership and strategic skills, very adaptable and very hard working (if his older self is any indication), he'll probably complain less about reading books if it means learning new skills that might be useful to helping people, as for the complaining about moons destruction part, let's just go with Julie tutoring him and stuff.
> 
> Thx for reading!


	6. Lyon?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the grammatical mistakes and errors throughout the chapter. Also, Ben's 'spells' are either from the series (Ben 10) or a translated words or phrases by the google translate.
> 
> Anyway, Enjoy!

Ben was patting Jack to sleep when the cavern began to shake.

"What the...?!" Ben stood up immediately and release the awakened Jack from his hold, the latter flying above his Daddy's head.

"Is it night yet?" Natsu said, jumping up as well; however, he seemed more concerned with actually doing something than the possibility of being buried alive.

Instead of falling rocks, a violent magic circle appeared on the cavern's ceiling and a purple light flowed downward, covering the frozen form of Deliora.

"It's a beam of light!" Lucy shouted, wide-eyed.

"Shining down from the ceiling," Natsu concluded, equally shocked.

"What's going on?" Happy fretted, shaking Jack franctically. "I'm getting scared here, guys."

"It's shining on Deliora!" Gray exclaimed in horror.

"I don't think that's a coincidence," Natsu stated as he backed up a bit.

Ben narrowed his eyes at the purple light shining to the ice which was dripping slightly. "It must be moon drip. A concentrated light to shine down and melt the ice."

"Let's go!" Gray ordered, waving them towards the exit, "We need to find out where the light's coming from."

"Aye," Happy agreed.

The team ran to the temple and went up a flight of stairs, where they found another magic circle feeding more moonlight onto the floor, which was right above Deliora.

"A magic circle." Lucy gasped.

"Let's check the roof, they must be there if they need to harness the moon light." Ben told the others and ran ahead with Jack flying after him not long after. 

The team headed up another flight of stairs, which exited on top of the temple. Once there, they found a circle of people, their features concealed by robes and masks. The robed people didn't notice the group as they were focused on chanting some strange words to bring the purple moonlight into a column, which was then being sent via magic circles to bathe the frozen demon below the temple.

"Looks like a cult gathering." Ben mused, remembering the time he, along with Charmcaster, stop a very sinister ritual from happening.

"It's an ancient spell, used to collect Moon Drip," Lyra explained. For some reason, she had not returned to the Spirit World.

"What are you still doing here?" Lucy whispered crossly.

"I see," Lyra said, ignoring Lucy, "so that's what they're trying to do."

"And that would be…" Ben gestured for the spirit to continue.

"They're using the Moon Drip to melt the ice surrounding that demon underground, so they can resurrect it." Lyra answered.

"So I was right." Ben wished he wasn't, Gray look really ready to loose it.

"They can't!" Gray countered, baring his teeth. "The ice in an Iced Shell _can't_ be melted!"

"I hate to say it, but that's not entirely true." Lyre explained. "While the Iced Shell is strong, it _can_ be melted by the Moon Drip; focused moon-energy can break any spell."

"Oh no," Happy said frightfully.

"Those idiots!" Gray growled. "They've never witnessed the power of Deliora!"

"It's possible that what happened to the islanders is actually just a byproduct of this spell." Lyra continued. "They might not have been targeted intentionally."

"Accident or not, there are people that have died because of this spell. It ends here." Ben clenched his fist.

"Yeah!" Natsu said, starting to rise, "Let's make 'em pay!"

"Wait," Lucy whispered, dragging both boys back down. "Someone's coming this way."

Sure enough, another man was approaching the circle of chanters. His features and age were obscured by the demonic-looking helmet he wore. He had a blue outfit with a white cloak over it, and armored leggings. Walking behind were Yuka, Toby and Sherry, though they kept a respectful distance.

"He even have a lame fashion sense." Ben muttered.

"You seriously need to get your priority straight Ben." Lucy sighed.

"What a waste," Yuka said, "I lost so much sleep, and all for nothing. We searched all day for the intruders, but never found a trace of them."

"Maybe there wasn't any!" Toby yelled.

"I'm afraid I have some sad news, Cold Emperor," Sherry said to the masked man, "We thought we had intruders earlier today, but couldn't find them. We cannot speak of love in this kind of situation."

"Intruders?" the Cold Emperor said in a flat voice.

Ben and Natsu both noticed Gray stiffen when he heard the voice. 

_'Does he recognize this lame guy?'_ Ben glanced sideways. 

"Has Deliora been awakened?" The Cold Emperor questioned.

"It should be either tonight or tomorrow," Sherry answered.

"Which one, girl?!" Toby asked impatiently.

For a moment, the Cold Emperor was silent.

"The time has almost come," he finally said. "If you see those intruders again, kill them. I don't want anyone getting in my way."

"It must have been the villagers." Sherry summarized. "They're the only other people on this island."

"Then destroy the village!" the Cold Emperor commanded. What a maniac.

"Yes, sir!" all three said as one, bowing before their master.

Ben clench his fist one again, if looks could kill the so called 'Cold Emperor' and his entourage+ would have been dead thousand times over.

"What?" Natsu snapped angrily.

"B-but…" Lucy looked up in horror. "But the villagers have nothing to do with this!"

"Yeah, we have to stop them." The pink-haired wizard asserted.

The Cold Emperor smirked. "It's a shame there has to be bloodshed."

Gray continued to stare at the demonic-masked villain in shock. "That voice…" he murmured, "no…it can't be…"

"I've had enough of this sneaking around business!" Everyone turned to see Natsu standing on top of the boulder he'd been hiding behind. Natsu's cheeks swelled up far larger than any normal humans before he looked up and exhaled a powerful torrent of fire into the air. "IT'S NOT THE VILLAGERS! WE'RE THE INTRUDERS YOU'RE AFTER!"

"Sorry for crushing the party." Ben told the group. "We can't let you guys kill anyone."

Lucy groaned at that, before standing up. "Geez…guess there's no turning back now, huh?"

"Aye," Happy agreed. Jack nodded.

"Ooh, I want to help out too." Lyra requested nicely, standing behind Lucy. "Want me to sing?"

"No." A vein throbbed on Lucy's head. "I want you to go back." She deadpanned.

"Ahh…you're no fun…" Lyra said, holding her cheeks. In a puff of pink smoke, she vanished and returned to the Spirit World.

As the villains eyed their now-revealed enemies, Sherry spotted Natsu's guild mark.

"I know that mark." She said to her comrades. "They're from Fairy Tail!"

"Interesting, those villagers must've gone to the magical guilds for help." Yuka commented.

"Don't worry about them." The Cold Emperor replied calmly. "Go eradicate the village."

"What!?" Lucy gasped.

"But why?" Natsu asked, equally surprised.

"Anyone who stands in my way either deliberately or not is my enemy." The masked villain stated, clenching his right fist for emphasis.

"Say WHAT?!" Natsu shouted, appalled.

"And that's it, you're on the top of my target list." Ben closed his eyes and green mana surrounded his open palms and his eyes too glowed green when he opened them. and his body surrounded by thin layer of mana as he floated a few feet above the ground. all non-living things that are not anchored at the ground floated with him.

Natsu ran to the enemies while Gray jumped into the air.

"Stop this crazy ceremony right now!" Gray cried. As he landed, he slammed his hands into the ground and created a shock wave of ice that forced the Emperor's lackeys to jump out of the way.

The Emperor, however, summoned an icy-blue magical circle in his right hand. When he landed, he slammed his right palm against the stone ground, creating a wave of his own that was equally as powerful as Gray's. The two ice-walls met head-on and canceled each other out before shattering into tiny fragments.

"He's an ice wizard too?!" Happy shouted, shocked.

Gray stepped back as glared daggers at the masked villains. "Lyon." He growled dangerously.

"Lyon?" Lucy repeated in confusion.

"Lyon." Gray continued; his voice hoarse with frustration and anger. "How could you? Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"

"Oh, Gray," the Cold Emperor, now identified as Lyon, said nonchalantly. "It's been quite a while, hasn't it?"

Lucy and Happy both gasped, surprised that Gray and Lyon actually knew each other.

"Why would you revive Deliora!?" Gray demanded.

"To think that _you_ were one of the wizards called to this island to help those poor villagers." Lyon said, ignoring Gray's question. "Did you come knowing that you would find me? Or is this just mere coincidence? Not that it makes any difference to me."

"An acquaintance of yours, Cold Emperor?" Yuka asked.

"Do as you were ordered," Lyon replied, not answering the question.

"I'll handle the intruders on my own."

"Yes, sir!" all three shouted, before dashing off in different directions.

"Hey, come back here!" Natsu yelled, running around Lyon.

"No! Natsu, don't get near him!" Gray had a panicked look in his eye again.

Lyon didn't even glance at Natsu. He merely held out his hand, and a sphere of spiked ice engulfed the Dragon Slayer's torso, upper arms and thighs.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out.

"Happy, get Lucy out of here!" Gray yelled.

"Aye!" the blue cat sprouted his wings and grabbed Lucy by the back of her shirt, lifting her into the air, despite her protests.

"Jack, after them! You guys go to the village!" The infant hesitated for a bit before nodding and flying after the blue feline and the blond.

"Aye!" Happy shouted, and then flew off toward the village.

"Be careful!" Lucy yelled, before they disappeared in the distance.

Gray held out his arms and fired a wave of ice at Lyon. The masked wizard simply held out his right arm and created a domed shield, which blocked Gray's attack.

"Now, let's end this quickly." Ben muttered and launch all the projectile in the air to the other ice-mage. He blocked it just as Ben expected and then. " **Meena Goh**." A concentrated orange beam came out from his clasp hand and pierce through the ice and hit the mask wizard straight to the chest and burn through his clothes, a circle of burn skin is etch to his torso.

"An earth and fire wizard?" The mask man, Lyon groaned and tried to stand up only for Gray to punch him in the face so hard he was sent flying past the wall.

"Natsu, Ben go after the three, Lyon's my opponent." Gray told the others with finality to his tone.

"Oh, come on!" Natsu complained but Ben put a hand to his shoulder and shook his head. "There are innocent people that the other three are targeting Natsu."

"Can you take him on Gray?" Ben asked the Ice mage who nodded. "At the very least, I can fight him to a draw."

"Just don't die." Was Natsu's last words before he disappeared from sight.

Lyon chuckled humorlessly as he stood up from the rubble. "You think you can fight me to a draw 'at the very least'? That's not just reckless; it's also arrogant, Gray."

"I don't understand why you're trying to pull this superior act with me, Lyon. You're not!" Gray exclaimed angrily. "We're not Ur's students anymore!"

"I'm well aware that we're not Ur's students." Lyon replied, removing his mask to reveal the face of a young man with spiky white hair. "After all, our beloved teacher is no longer among the living."

"Her final act was sealing that monster away. Are you really so callous that you would destroy our master's legacy?" accused Gray.

"Don't delude yourself." Lyon countered. "We both know that _you're_ the one that killed Ur."

Gray's eyes went wide and his mouth twisted into a snarl.

"But you don't seem to have any guilt over that." Lyon continued. "How cruel."

...

Off the coast of Galuna Island, another danger was floating towards the shore. A massive ship, bearing the flag of pirates, was closing fast. However, the pirates weren't the ones who were dangerous; in fact, most of them were strewn about the deck, unconscious, severely beaten by the person who had hijacked their ship.

The captain of the ship, the only pirate still on his feet, and only because he was being forced to steer, glanced at the hijacker out of the corner of the one eye not covered in an eye patch.

"Why do you want to go to Galuna Island?" he asked nervously, "I mean, it's scary!"

"Just shut up and steer." Erza said in a commanding voice, as several of the pirates began to wake up.

"If you drop us off somewhere, you can have the boat!" the captain pleaded, "Please, I'm begging yah! I've heard that the island is cursed, and that anyone who sets foot on its soil gets turned into a demon!"

"I will take that chance." Erza responded, crossing her arms.

"B-but why do you have to go there!?" The captain asked, panic in his voice.

"When rules are broken." Said the redhead. "The guilty must be punished. That is all I can tell you."

Despite being thoroughly crushed by her, the pirate crew found themselves warming up to the wizard; it didn't hurt that she was beautiful and they, being pirates, saw that as a bonus.

"We'll help you catch those guys," declared one pirate, despite not knowing who it was that they were chasing. Even the captain was inspired by Erza's courage in the face of the terror that was Galuna Island.

"All right, ya scallywags.."He shouted. "Get yer anchors outta yer pants and raise all sails; we're headed ta Galuna Island!"

As the pirates got to work, Erza reflected on why she'd needed to go to cursed island…

...

_Erza was about to get another strawberry cake and smoothie combo when she noticed the gloomy mood over the guild, she immediately went to Mira and notice that Ben was nowhere to be found._

" _Mirajane." She greeted her former rival._ _"What has happened?"_

" _Oh, Erza, it's terrible!" Mirajane said from her usual place from behind the bar. "Natsu took on one of the S-Class quests!"_

" _By himself!?" Erza asked, but kept her face neutral._

" _No, he took Lucy and Happy with him," Mira replied, "and Ben as well_ _."_

_That was even more surprising to Erza. Lucy didn't seem the type to break the rules like that, and from what she'd heard, Ben wasn't even an official member._

" _And there's more," Mirajane continued, "the Master sent Gray after them yesterday, but he should have been back by now. He might be hurt!"_

" _Or, knowing Gray, he went along with them," Erza said to herself, but Mirajane still heard it._

" _Oh no! Please, Erza, you have to bring them back, especially Ben; he's never even been on a normal wizard job, let alone an S-Class one!"_

" _Erza, I'm glad you've arrived." Makarov said as he descended from the second floor of the guild hall. "I need you to fetch Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Gray and Ben from Galuna Island as soon as you can. They're out of their league."_

" _Understood, Master," Erza complied. "I'll head to Hargeon immediately."_

_"Ben will be devastated when he saw what happened to his machine." Master sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose._

_Erza paused at the whispered comment before walking out of the building ready to fetch the bunch of misfits who had stolen a mission they're not qualified to take._

_..._

Erza sighed at that, looking towards the island that was getting closer. Whatever happened to Ben's ticket home must have been really bad, if Master's tone and expression as he said those words were any indication.

Did someone managed to destroy the days of progress that Ben and Levy had made? 

Erza remembers all the time that Ben and Levy were together and covered by books in the library whenever she pass by or the time where Ben have discussions with the latter whenever he had free time from work at the bar. All that hard work...

Maybe Erza will let Ben's action slide this time...

...

Back at the temple, the group of chanters had been watching the face off between Gray and Lyon; the latter remained calm and collected while the former was starting to tremble in anger.

"Enough of the games, Gray." Lyon told the other. "We both know that you're the one who murdered Ur, so just admit it."

When Gray didn't answer, Lyon's face finally showed emotion, his eyes going wide with near-mania. He look like a lunatic. 

"I'm surprised you have the gall to even speak her name!" Lyon held out his hand, and a spiked mace made of ice slammed into Gray, sending him flying back.

Gray struggled to his feet. "Lyon…"

"What's wrong?" Lyon asked mockingly. "Don't tell me the guilt is finally getting to you. I'm warning you, don't try to interfere; whether you like it or not, I _am_ resurrecting Deliora."

"I won't let you!" Gray snarled, he straighten up and move his arm in front of himself.

Lyon stared at the onyx-haired teen for a tense moment before he tossed his demonic helmet to the ground.

"It's just like old times." Lyon smirked as ice gathered around his hand. "But I've grown much stronger since then." An icy-blue magical circle appeared in front of his hand. **"Ice Make: Eagle!"**

A flock of icy eagles soared out of the magical circle and headed straight for Gray, who repositioned his fist on top of his palm and slammed his joined hands into the ground.

" **Ice Make: Shield!"**

However, instead of crashing against the fan-shaped shield, the eagles flew over and around it, slamming painfully into Gray and sent him flying to the wall.

"While _your_ specialty is making inanimate objects, Static Ice Make Magic." Lyon said. " _Mine_ is creating living creatures, Active Ice Make Magic. Did you forget that my ice has the ability to move?"

Instead of answering, Gray jumped in the air and gathered his magic once again. **"Ice Make: Hammer!"**

A giant sledgehammer flew down at Lyon, who only pointed up with two fingers. **"Ice Make: Ape!"**

A large gorilla made of ice appeared and blocked the hammer, both ice structures shattering on impact.

"How pathetic," Lyon taunted. "You still use two hands when casting your Ice-Make spells."

"Yeah, because that's what Ur taught us." Gray disputed. "Single-handed spell casting is incomplete and unbalanced!"

"Well, I'm the exception to that rule." Lyon boasted. "I surpassed Ur's skill a long time ago."

That statement really got under Gray's skin. "Shut your mouth!" he snarled dangerously. How dare Lyon disrespect their master...

"Regardless." Lyon continued on, ignoring Gray. "Ever since we were children, you've never been able to land a single hit on me."

Gray brought his hands together again. "I'm a lot stronger now than I used to be!" He slammed his hands against the ground again. **"Ice Make: Geyser!"**

A spiked column of ice erupted from the ground, engulfing Lyon, who didn't even flinch. At first, Gray thought that he had won, but then the ice cracked and shattered, revealing an unscathed Lyon.

"Nothing has changed." Lyon bragged. "I was always the superior student, and I'm _still_ stronger than you. I was able to master single-handed Ice Make Magic, while you still rely on two hands. It's just like the old days; we may have chosen different paths, but we're frozen in time. Our rankings as wizards never changed."

Lyon raised his hand. **"Ice Make: Ice Dragon!"**

A giant ice dragon emerged from the ground that sent Gray flying into the air, and then slamming him back to earth rather painfully.

"That's why I'm restoring Deliora…to prove that I am more than Ur's star pupil." He didn't even glance at Gray's fallen form. "Even as a child, I only had one dream: to surpass Ur's abilities as a wizard. But you ruined it for me, Gray. After she died, I thought my lifelong dream of surpassing her had been dashed. But then I realized that there was still a way; if I can defeat Deliora, a demon so strong that not even Ur could vanquish it, then I will have exceeded her in power. My dream will finally become a reality!"

Clutching at his side, Gray stumbled to his feet. "Listen to me; that thing destroyed everything we ever cared about, and you want to bring it back just to prove how strong you are?! That's insane!"

Lyon's eye twitched.

"Please." Gray begged hoarsely. "You can't do this!"

Finally, Lyon's composure snapped as he sent dozens of smaller Ice Dragons at Gray from all angles, further injuring him.

" _Please, you can't do this?_ " he echoed. "Really, is that the best you can do?" As Gray fell once again, Lyon continued, "Funny, that's the same thing _we_ said to _you_ that faithful day." He glared harder at his foe. "Surely you remember? It's because you challenged Deliora that Ur lost her life! I can't even stand you speaking her name in my presence; begone!"

With one final Ice Dragon, Lyon sent Gray careening up into the air. The battered Fairy Tail wizard let out an anguished cry as he fell to the ground. With a swish of his cloak, Lyon turned and walked away, not even bothering to look at his unconscious formal rival.

...

Natsu stopped running through the jungle, a strange chill going up his spine. He looked back at the temple, while Ben came to a halt when he noticed that Natsu wasn't moving.

"Natsu?" he asked the other who had a strange look in his face. "Is there something wrong?"

"I don't know." Natsu answered. "I just have this bad feeling about Gray. I think… I need to go back for him."

Ben paused at that and turn to the temple. "Go."

Natsu nodded and ran back to the temple. Ben sighed before covering himself with thin layer of mana and flied to the village as fast as he can manage without exhausting himself.

...

At top of the temple, Gray was in so much pain that he could barely even blink. His whole body ached so bad. In his pain-ridden state, he saw the shadow of his teacher.

" _Get up, Gray."_ She said, before the image resolved into Natsu. "I said, get up!"

"N-Natsu…" Gray whispered in shocked as he stared at the dragon slayer he just sent away with Ben earlier.

"Man, you got the snot kicked out of you, huh?" Natsu shook his head. "And you said you could fight him to a draw…"

"W-what are you… doing here?" Was Ben here too? No, he probably went after Lucy, Happy and Jack.

"I had a bad feeling, so I came back for yah." Natsu answered, and then started to haul Gray to his feet. "Come on; let's get you back to the village."

Gray shook off his hand. "I can walk, Natsu. Where's Lyon?"

"Dunno." Natsu told him. "After I found you, him and those chanting freaks had vanished."

Gray took a step forward, but it was all he managed before he began to fall again. He was stopped when Natsu caught him by the back of his shirt. Without speaking, Natsu hefted the ice wizard over his shoulder and began walking towards the village.

After a minute, Natsu spoke up. "Now, hang on. I'm sorry if this hurts, but I've gotta start running if we're gonna catch up to Ben and help him stop those guys."

Natsu took off at a brisk jog; it aggravated Gray's injuries, but he endured through the pain. During that time, Gray remembered back when Ur had warned him against challenging Deliora, and how he had tried to convince Natsu from going to Galuna Island; both situations were fairly similar.

"Hey." He called out to the other.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." Gray said, "I'm sorry for not believing in you and the others. I should have known better." Tears slid down his face, showing how ashamed he was for his lack of faith in his friends. Natsu stopped and looked at him.

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself because you lost a fight!" Natsu shouted. "You're a member of Fairy Tail, and we don't give up when times are tough. So put it behind you and keep moving forward!"

It was then that Gray realized that he had broken the most important rule in Fairy Tail; not about the S-class mission, no, about living in the past when there is so much to see and experience at present and opportunities for the future. He clenched his fist and took a large breathe before running after the pink haired dragon slayer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing to really say here other than thx for reading!


	7. Zalty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the grammatical mistakes and errors throughout the chapter. Also, Ben's 'spells' are either from the series (Ben 10) or a translated words or phrases by the google translate.
> 
> Anyway, Enjoy!

Ben was nearing the village and he can see the telltale sign of blue and a hardhat. Jack was cheering at him from one of the watch tower. He slowed down a bit and landed in front of the stunned blond.

"Lucy, I'm glad you guys made it." He told the celestial spirit user as he approach the other on foot.

"Ben, wait! Don't come any closer!" the blond wizard freaked out. "STOP!"

"Why?" His next step felt awkward and he had no time to contemplate further as he fell.

"Ow!" Ben groaned.

"Wow, that trap actually worked." One of the villagers commented.

"Yeah." Another villager said with a dumbfounded expression as he turned to Lucy. "Sorry we doubted you."

"What the hell was that?" Ben groaned out as he climbed out of the hole with Jacks help. "I'm fine Nippy." He told the infant reassuringly.

"And who's that?" He pointed at the pink haired girl in maid costume.

"Um, in order to, you know.." Lucy was a bit flushed in embarrassment. "I was trying to make a trap for Lyon's guys, and this is Virgo, one of my Zodiac Spirits. She used her power to dig the hole."

"Hello, sir." Virgo said, bowing politely.

"Yeah, uh Hi, I'm Ben." He offered his hand and the other shook it. 

Their head snapped when they heard Natsu's voice.

"Hey guys!" he jogged into the village with Gray on his shoulders, "Hey, what's with the hole?"

"Is Gray all right? What happened?" Ben asked, concerned.

"He got beat up pretty bad," Natsu replied.

"Lucy made a hole to trap Lyon's lackeys." Happy explained, answering Natsu's second question.

"That's dumb." Natsu remarked, handing Gray off to the jacket wearing teen who immediately went to heal the ice mage.

" **Consano**." The wounds and bruises rapidly shrink under his palm and the villagers watch on in amazement at the display.

"H-hey!" One of the villagers began pointing at the sky. "Look over there!"

Everyone looked in the direction the man was pointing and, to their shock, saw the giant rat flying in the air, using its tail as a propeller and holding a giant bucket. Yuka, Toby and Sherry could be seen on the rat's back.

"How the heck does that even work!?" Ben grimaced in disgust, the rat's so ugly. Ugh.

"What?!" Lucy raged. "Now my pit fall trap is totally pointless!"

"And you tell me I can't get my priorities straight?" He sneered at the busty blonde as he finished healing Gray.

"What's it got in the bucket?" Natsu asked, deciding to ignore Ben's question, since it was going to hurt his brain.

As if in answer, a fist-sized drop of green goo flew out of the bucket and headed right at Lucy, who stared at it.

"Jelly?" she wondered as it got closer to her.

"Look out!" Natsu shouted, tackling her out of the way. Instead of hitting her, the jelly hit a plant that had been at her feet. When it made contact, both the plant and a few inches of earth beneath it sizzled and dissolved into nothingness.

"Whoa!" Ben backed away from the steaming hole in the ground. "It's some kind of acid!"

"I knew it smelled deadly." Natsu growled, helping Lucy to her feet.

"T-that rat has a whole bucket of that stuff!" a villager cried, "It's gonna drop it on the village!"

Above them, the rat Angelica threw the bucket over the village, releasing a wave of jelly large enough to cover the village and everyone in it.

"How do we stop that!?" Lucy screamed.

"I need everyone to get to the center of the village!" Natsu yelled as he started to run, "Let's go, Happy!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy flew in behind the Dragon Slayer and picked him up, flying straight at the jelly.

" **Presidium**!" He covered the whole village with a large dome of protective barrier. Natsu and Happy who were flying towards the rat slam to the barrier and slid down.

"What the hell, Ben?!" Natsu shouted from his position in the ground. Ben gave him a sheepish looked and mouthed an apology.

The acid slide away in the slope of the barrier to the ground outside of it. Ben Maintain the barrier as the rat threw the empty bucket to the dome before repeatedly slamming to it.

Circular spots of vibrations were created with every slam and after a while it shows signs of cracking.

"Get ready, I'm releasing it." Ben told the other wizards. "On the count of three... One, Two...Three!" The barrier was release and Natsu and Gray simultaneously attack the rat.

" **Ice Make: Lance**!"

" **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack**!" 

The rat dove away from the attack and crashed to the village. 

"Chief, run!" One of the villager cried.

"No!" The old man yelled stubbornly. "I won't leave Bobo's grave!"

"Do you wish to punish him for not obeying you, Princess?"

"Virgo!" Lucy cried with a smile, glad that she hadn't sent the spirit back to the Spirit World.

Miraculously, despite the rat falling straight to him, the chief who was near the Bobo's grave was unharmed.

"Bobo's grave is still standing." The chief whispered, relieved that the resting place of his son was undisturbed.

That changed, however, when Yuka's foot kicked the headstone over, causing the wizards and the Anodites to glare at the man.

"The Cold Emperor has commanded us to eradicate the village and its people." Sherry said coldly as she, Yuka and Toby approached, Angelica right behind them, apparently recovered. "We were trying to show mercy by making your deaths quick and painless. But since that didn't work, we'll have to resort to bloodshed."

"Four wizards, two freaks, a few dozen villagers," Yuka commented arrogantly, "This shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes."

"You're pretty full of yourself, considering you guys are outnumbered." Ben told them with a glare, freak? Did they just called his dear child a freak?! Have they seen the f-ing rat with them?! 

"These creeps are going down." Lucy stated; her tone serious.

"Aye!" Happy shouted.

As the three shout over denials Moka, the village chief was clutching his staff tightly as he glared at the three wizards. 

"How dare they." He snarled venomously. "Such disrespect! THEY KICKED OVER BOBO'S GRAVE!" Several villagers quickly grabbed the raging Moka before he could attack Yuka, Sherry, and Toby.

"Calm down, chief." One villager said.

"We have to get outta here!" Another warned.

"Yeah," a third added, "we don't wanna get caught in the middle of a magic battle."

"HURRY UP AND GET HIM TO SAFETY!" a villager commanded. They quickly responded as they dragged a resisting Moka away from the inevitable battle.

"By the way, Jack and I ain't a freak, the freaks here is that giant rat and rat girl, your eyebrows and dog-man!"

Jack made a noise of agreement at that, flying restlessly, apparently exited in taking the opponents down a notch.

"Toby's not a freak! He's not a dog either!" Dog-man yelled too.

"Eyebrows?" Yuka repeated, his hand going to his forehead.

Angelica's not a freak, shes love! And I'm not rat girl!"

Sherry screeched. She then regained her composure, and continued, "We won't stop until everyone in this village is dead. Right, Angelica?"

The rat hissed maliciously, and then spun her tail, taking off right after Sherry hopped onto her back.

"I'm not going to let you get away with this!" Lucy yelled, leaping at the rat and grabbing one of its claws. Then, she realized what she had just done. "Oh no! I got too excited and jumped on!"

"For the sake of all things Holy." Ben groaned pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Jack was face palming too beside him.

"Yep, she's stupid," Happy commented.

"Or insane!" Natsu added.

Lucy, deciding to make the best of the situation, was doing what she could to stop Sherry and her rat; of course, the only thing she could do was punch ineffectually at the claw she held onto. When that didn't work, she tried tickling the rat's foot; to everyone's shock, not only was Angelica ticklish, but she was so much so that she lost control and crashed in the distance!

"Wow." Yuka commented. "She's going to be ticked."

"I don't have any ticks!" Toby yelled offensively. 

"I wasn't talking to you," Yuka replied, exasperated.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Ben asked with a wince.

"I'll go check on her," Happy replied, sprouting his wings and flying off.

"Jack." The baby necrofriggian nodded and flied after the blue feline.

'I'm helping." Gray told the two.

"No, I fixed your body not your magic, you better recover to fight that other lame guy." Ben told the other.Gray grounded his teeth but went to follow the villagers.

"Hey Ben." Natsu said. "After we finish with these guys, could you go after him?"

"Sure." Ben agreed, Jack might be pretty decent at fighting but he still can't help worrying after the infant. "Let's make this quick."

Natsu hopped over Yuka's head and shot a breath of fire at him. Yuka only barely blocked it with a blue barrier.

"A wizard that breathes fire?" Yuka asked. "Don't tell me that you're the Salamander of Fairy Tail I've heard so much about?"

"Looks like we're up with one another dog-man." Ben taunted as he lift bunch of rocks from when the freak of a rat crashed.

"I'm not a dog!" He yelled offensively once again.

"You know," Yuka said, "We used to be in a famous guild ourselves, so neither of you should blow us off. In fact, the famous Iron Rock Jura is from the same guild; surely, you've heard of Lamia Scale?"

"Not really." Ben inputted as he launch the rocks to dog-man who leaped to dodge the rocks.

Natsu didn't even give a snarky reply, instead shooting another blast of fire at Yuka's face, which was blocked by another barrier.

"Hey, cut it out!" Yuka shouted, "Listen when I'm talking to you!"

"Why?" Natsu asked, "You think I care what guild you're from, or who the other members are? We came here to help these people and you're the ones who put them in danger in the first place! That makes you Fairy Tail's enemy, and that gives me more than enough reason to fight you."

"I don't really care." Ben shrugged.

"Toby," Yuka said calmly. "Take out the Take-Over wizard. I'll handle the Salamander."

Toby growled and leaped at Ben, who caught his fist with one hand.

"Such a bad bad dog." Ben chastised in the same way he did to a dog. "No treats!"

"I'm not a d-ooogh!" The Anodite didn't let the other finished as he pulled him closer pull the long knee and axe kick the kneeling dog-man slamming his face to the ground.

Ben pulled back as the dog-man stood up with a pretty beaten up face.

"You know," He said. "Your friend over there is lucky. Yuka is tough, but _I'm_ even stronger!" His fingernails then turned green and extended several inches. "These are my Mega-Jellyfish Paralyzing Claws! You'll never guess what they do!"

"Paralyze you?" Ben snarked.

Toby's jaw dropped in shock. Looking so surprise that it almost made Ben face palm.

"How did you know that?" He gasped, "Hey…you got ESP or something?"

"Kinda," Ben remember some of the ESP thing he had done back from his world, so maybe he can be qualified as one? "But I don't really need them to be able o tell that, you're stupid."

"No one talks to me like that!" Toby yelled, swiping at Ben, who jumped back out of reflex. "With one swipe from my claws, you'll be frozen, just waiting to die!"

Toby tried slashing him again but Ben made a barrier in front of him to block it. " **Contigo**." The claws shattered upon impact.

"OW!" Toby cradled his wounded hand, and then glared at the alien. "I'm gonna kill you for that!"

"Ah!" Ben fake gasped in horror.

"What?" Toby asked falling for the act.

"You got something on your face, right about here?" Ben pointed at his forehead.

"What is it?" Toby asked, pressing his fingers against his own head. Unfortunately for him, the hand he used was the one with undamaged claws; as a result, he had ended up paralyzing himself. Ben burst out laughing as the other fell to the ground.

"O-oh man, I-I haven't laughed this hard in ages! Ahahaha." He put a hand on his knee to support himself as he laughed. 

Once he recovered enough of his composure, Ben look at Natsu's side of the fight. The Dragon Slayer kept shooting blast of fire, but each attack was blocked by the same blue barrier.

"It's useless." Yuka commented, then pointed two of his fingers like a gun. **"Wave!"**

A blue blast of energy shot forth, narrowly missing Natsu, who shot out more fire, which was easily stopped. He look increasingly agitated.

"The energy that I use disrupts all types of magic." Yuka explained smugly. "Which means that none of your spells will work against me!"

Ben sweat dropped at that. "What kind of idiot explains the properties of his magic?" _'Did I really somehow ended up in an anime?'_

"Shut up!" Eyebrows yelled at him.

"So that's why my fire couldn't break down his barrier." Natsu said, understanding. 

_'He's actually pretty smart when it comes to battles...that's it I'm 90% convince I'm in an anime, I just need to be able to confirm the 'Power of Friendship' and it's a done deal.'_ Ben nodded to himself.

"I specialize in Anti-Wizard Magic." Yuka continued, as if Ben hadn't just commented in his bad habit of revealing his powers to an enymy. "Something I was known quite well for in Lamia Scale. For you see, all wizards are helpless before me; even you!" He held out his hand again.

" **Wave!"**

Natsu dodged another blast, the charged forward, his fists wreathed in fire, but his punch was stopped yet again by Yuka's barrier; his flames instantly extinguished.

"Need some help?" Ben asked the dragon slayer.

"No!" Natsu yelled stubbornly. "This is my fight!"

"It doesn't matter what he can do, I'm not going to let him off the hook that easily!" Natsu declared feircely.

With that, he punched his forearm clean through the barrier, inches away from Yuka's face.

 _'Guess it only stops his arm when he's using magic,'_ Ben thought.

The Anodite was then startled when Natsu started to scream in pain; his arm, still inside the barrier, was rippling like it was an image distorted by water.

"You put your bare arm inside of a vortex of magical energy… not smart." Yuka commented impassively.

Instead of answering, Natsu smashed forward, shoving his head and part of his torso into the barrier.

"Your magic is no match for my brute strength!" he yelled, clearly in pain, but forcing past it.

Ben wasn't sure if he should be impressed with the Dragon Slayer's tenacity, or worried that he was going to die. _'I'm not sure if my healing abilities can heal a whole chopped off arm. Should I interfere now?'_

"It doesn't matter," Yuka said, though his composure was clearly broken. "Your flames are useless inside the vortex!"

"But I can still use them _outside_ ," Natsu grinned roguishly "and that gives me a great idea!"

A jet of fire shot out of his elbow, acting as a booster to force his fist towards Yuka's face.

" **Fire Dragon Flame Elbow!"**

The force of the punch was enough to send a stunned Yuka flying. When he hit the ground, he didn't get up again. Natsu wiped his hands, and then noticed that Ben had won his fight.

"Nice job, Ben. How'd you beat dog-boy?"

Ben shrugged. "Tricked him into paralyzing himself."

Natsu laughed. "Ha! That's hilarious; I wish I'd seen that!"

"Lemme see your arm." He told the Dragon slayer, holding out his hand.

"It's fine." Natsu tried to escape. "I'll be the judge of that." Ben told the other, pulling the unijured arm roughly.

"Ow, ow." Natsu winced. "You have surprisingly strong grip."

Ben ignored him as he let go of the uninjured arm for the injured one. It was now bruising lightly which surprise Ben.

"It's already bruising, that means it's healing already." Ben told the dragon slayer." **Comprimo**." The bruises began to shine and a few seconds later the skin return to it's natural color.

"Are dragon slayers fast healers?" Natsu shrugged at the question. "I dunno, Igneel never said anything about it and I've never met another one like me."

"Hey, Ben." Natsu stood up and turned back to him. "Weren't we going to go after Happy, Lucy and Jack?"

"Ah, I forgot." He finish lamely.

"Okay, you go after them." Natsu said. "I've got an idea about what to do with that frozen demon."

"Really?" Ben asked skeptically. "Your plan is more than just punching it, right? Because I'm telling you now, that won't work."

"Yes, I have an actual plan!" Natsu yelled indignantly. "Now go help Happy, Lucy and Jack!"

"Okay, just be careful." 

"Yeah, I will!" Natsu watched the Anodite leave, and then looked around. "Now, which way was the temple, again?"

...

Ben was following the large tracks that the rat created when it crashed. On the shore, the freaky rat and Sherry were unconscious and have a bit of ice covering them.

"Wow." Ben said to himself. 

"Ben!" Happy's voice cried out. "Run for your life!"

Ben turned around, only to find a sword pointed at his throat; his eyes followed the blade to the armored arm that held it, and then to that arm's owner. AH, that's why.

"Erza." He greeted the redhead pleasantly, she didn't return his pleasantries however. The Fairy Queen only gave Ben a hard stare, causing him to laugh nervously. Why is this giving him a sense of Deja vu? 

"Um, I can explain?"

"Ben Tennyson." Erza said, not moving her blade from Ben's throat. "I do not care what your explanation is."

"Shame." Ben said flippantly making the Lucy and Happy eyes widen in horror.

"Come with me; we are going to get the others and go back to the guild." She then lowered her sword and began walking towards the village. Happy was on her hand while Jack was strapped from her back via a baby carrier. Lucy was following diligently.

"No." Erza paused at that and turn to the green eyed teen who had an unreadable look in his face.

"Excuse me?" She asked the other with a healthy amount of disbelief.

"I won't be going back with you, not until the things here are fixed." Ben told the red head firmly and then held out his hand his hand. "Please hand Jack over, he doesn't like being in that kind of position."

Lucy and Happy were making funny gestures behind Erza to Ben but the latter ignored them. The red head and green eyed teen stared at one another for what seems to be eternity making the blond and blue feline sweat bullets.

After a while Erza sighed and unstrapped Jack much to Lucy and Happy's shock, and hand the baby necrofriggian to the Ben. Jack immediately flew to his Daddy and nuzzle his face to the teen's chest.

"As much as I hate to say it you are not part of the guild and thus I have no authority over you." Erza said diplomatically, vanishing the sword and crossing her arm to her armored chest. "Though as agreed you are allowed back to Fairy Tail whenever you choose to return."

She then walk past Ben and Lucy and Happy scrambled after her.

"I don't think Gray will be budging either." Ben told her as he turn to face the red head. "It really hits home, this one."

Erza didn't respond and continued on walking but Ben said his piece already, it's just up to Gray now.

"Let's go after them Jack."

...

The next day, when Gray woke up, he noticed two things; first, that he was in a tent, but otherwise ignorant of his surroundings. Second, the he felt a lot better. With some effort, he stood up, noticing that someone had bandaged his torso, shoulders and head.

Stepping out of the tent, Gray shielded his eyes against the afternoon sun. Around him was a mass of tents, similar to the village, but it was clearly located somewhere else.

"Oh, thank goodness." A voice from behind Gray said, causing him to turn and see one of the village girls, "I'm glad you're awake."

"What is this place?" Gray asked, being careful not to stare at the girl's cursed leg, which was blue and almost insect-like.

"It's a storage area, not too far from the village," the girl answered. "Everything was destroyed in the attack last night, so we decided to come here for shelter."

"The whole village was destroyed?" Gray asked, horrified. "That's horrible."

Then he remembered Lyon ordering his lackeys to raze the village and kill everyone in it.

 _'I can't believe you actually tried to do it, Lyon.'_ Gray thought, disgusted with his fellow student. How can he do such horrible thing?

"You know." the girl continued. "It's a miracle that Natsu, Lucy and Ben were here; because of them, everyone in the village survived the attack."

"It's a relief that no one died." Gray nodded, hating that he wasn't able to do much to contribute but is very relieved at the news. "Are the others still here?"

"Well, Lucy is, but after the fight, Natsu disappeared, and Ben went after him this morning. They wanted you to meet them over in that tent." The girl pointed to the tent in question.

After thanking the girl, Gray went to said tent and immediately froze at the sight that greeted him. Lucy and Happy looking very distressed and tied up with thick ropes, and his worse nightmare, Erza Scarlet was seating in the middle, cross legged, hands on her lapped and looking not so pleased.

"You made me wait." She said in a calm, yet dark, tone. "Not smart."

The only thing that kept Gray from bolting was that he was still exhausted from his fight with Lyon, Ben did a good job healing him physically but his magic has not fully recovered yet.

"Erza!" Gray tried to stay calm and failed. "Um, why are Lucy and Happy tied up? And where's Ben and Jack?"

"Lucy informed me of the situation," Erza replied, not answering Gray's first question. "As for Ben and Jack, he's searching for Natsu."

If Gray wasn't worried that Erza might kill him, he might have noticed that Erza's expression darkened slightly when she mentioned Ben.

"As it is," Erza continued, "I thought that you had been sent to stop these fools, not join them; needless to say, I'm disappointed. However, now that you're up, we're going to search for Natsu and Ben, and then we will go back to the guild."

"But we can't leave the island just yet!" Gray objected. "If Lucy filled you in, then you know what these villagers are going through!"

Erza barely glanced at him. "And what would be your point? I came here solely for the purpose of taking you all back to the guild. I'm not interested in anything other than that."

"Seriously!?" Gray yelled in outraged. "Have you even seen the people on this island!?"

"I have." Erza said evenly.

"And you're just gonna turn your back on them!?" Gray demanded, shocked at what he was hearing.

"Their request is posted on the Request Boards of every guild hall. The villagers would be better served by wizards who are cleared for S-Class quests. You, on the other hand, are not qualified."

"How can you be so heartless?" Gray accused.

Erza whirled around, furious. "What did you say!?"

Hit the nerves, as cold as Erza was it was a bit uncalled for but Gray could care less right now. Even as he stared at the materializing sword that Erza pointed to him he didn't waver.

"If you break the guild's rules, then you will face the consequences."

"Do what you must," Gray declared, steel in his voice. "I can't walk away from what I know is right."

For what seemed like an eternity, neither Gray nor Erza broke eye contact. Finally, Erza lowered the sword, and Gray walked to the tent-flap.

"I'm seeing this through to the end… and you can't stop me." Gray proclaimed before he walked out.

After he was gone, Erza trembled in anger, before leveling a glare at the bound Happy and Lucy.

"We're sorry!" Lucy shrieked in panic, fearing that since Gray went out Erza's gonna bent her anger to them. "We have no control over any of them!"

"Gray's not feeling too good." Happy added desperately. "Because he lost a fight with his old friend! Ben healed him, but only physically, he's still racked over!"

Faster than either of them could blink, Erza swung her sword, slicing through the ropes that held them.

"These events are intolerable." Erza said. "But we'll deal with the immediate problem first; we're going after them!"

"Hooray!" both Lucy and Happy cheered.

"This doesn't change anything." Erza growled at them after hearing their cheer. "You're still going to face punishment."

Their faces fell. "Yes, ma'am."

 _'Looks like Ben was right, it is personal.'_ The red head thought to herself, remembering the look in Gray's eyes as he stared back at her.

...

"Oh man, this sucks," Natsu groaned to himself as he finally made it to the temple. "I came up with a great plan, but then I got lost and fell asleep!"

"The fact that you manage to get here at all is miracle enough." A voice from his left told him making him jump. 

"Gah!" He squeaked in shock. "Don't go sneaking at me like that!" The jacket wearing teen's scent blended so well in the forest that it was hard to detect his smell even if you're purposely looking for him and Jack too, though he was a bit easier to detect than Ben, Frosty breathe and all.

Ben merely rolled his eyes and stared at the temple feeling something he can't quite explain, like there's an additional signature but a bit distorted. 

"How did you know I'll be here anyways?" He didn't remember telling the shorter teen where he was going.

"It's not that hard to guess." Ben replied. "You have a plan to stop Deliora from rising from the dead and said being's under the temple, so..." 

"Anyway, whatever this plan of yours, let's put it in motion before Erza gets her hand on you, I can only get so much leeway."

Natsu paled at that. "Erza's here?!"

"She is, that's why we need to hurry this up."

"Alright! I'm all fired up!"

...

Lyon stared at his remaining subordinate, his arms crossed. "How pathetic." he commented. "You're the only one still standing, Toby?"

The dog-man in question shifted nervously, sweat growing on his brow. 

Lyon sat down on a throne made of stone. "Those Fairy Tail wizards, and the other kid and creature who were with them… they're quite impressive, and clever too, if they were able to trick you into paralyzing yourself."

Toby flinched, putting one hand against the bandage on his forehead. "Hey, can we keep the whole 'shocking myself' thing a secret?"

A new voice intruded on the conversation. "This unfortunate turn of events could put the resurrection of Deliora in jeopardy."

Toby jumped at the sudden appearance of a small, hunched man who wore red clothes, a gray cloak and a red, horned mask that covered the upper half of his face. His mouth, the only visible part of his face, showed a wide grin.

Lyon hid his surprise well, not even batting an eye. "Zalty, you're as stealthy as ever."

The man known only as Zalty was an enigma to Lyon and his allies; though he had provided them with good information, he never cowered nor groveled before Lyon's power. 

"If all goes as planned." Zalty said. "Tthe demon should awaken at some point tonight, but we have to keep an eye on those wizards. If they were to interrupt the Moon Drip ceremony, then Deliora would forever remain entombed in ice. Salamander and Titania are very powerful, and we don't have a record for the energy-user and his pet, there is a good chance that they could foil our plans."

"As always." Lyon replied calmly. "You seem remarkably well-informed. However, I can't say that I'm worried. Those fools may be strong, but they're no match for me."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Zalty said eagerly. "So it's very reassuring to hear. Still, allow me the honor of joining you in battle."

"Hold up…you're a wizard!?" Toby asked, shocked. Why didn't he know about such thing?

"Yes." Zalty answered. "It's been a while since I used it, but I've dabbled in a particular kind of Lost Magic."

Lyon considered it for a moment. Zalty hadn't done anything to betray his cause. "Sure, we could use another wizard." Especially since Yuka and Sherry were out of the equation.

Zalty opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted when the temple suddenly began to shake!

"Is it an earthquake?" Toby asked worriedly.

"I don't think so." Lyon said. The shakes were coming in little bursts, not a long quake, and it seemed to be happening on only one side of the temple. Toby, however, hadn't figured it out yet. Typical.

"It's all coming down!"

Finally, with one last rumble, the temple suddenly tilted to one side, nearly causing Lyon, Toby and Zalty to lose their balance and fall. They thought that it was over, but then a blast of fire ripped its way up through the floor, nearly frying them.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Lyon demanded. Zalty looked into the hole in the floor and grinned.

"I should have known that Salamander would make the first move, though I would have thought he'd come alone; it seems he brought the energy-user and his pet with him."

"The plan's quite a genius I must say." Ben complimented as he stared at the rubble.

"Told you I got it covered." Natsu bragged.

"What are you two doing here!?" Lyon demanded, enraged.

"We're knocking this place over." Natsu retorted.

"No moon shining on the Ice, no demon." Ben shrugged. Jack made noises of agreement.

"How dare you!" Lyon raged, "Who do you think you are!?"

"A decent person." Ben gave him a haughty smile. "Unlike you."

Natsu decided not to engage in any sort of banter; instead, fire shot out of the bottom of his feet, propelling him upwards like a rocket.

"Oh well. Talk time's over." Ben lifted some of the rubble and send them flying pass Natsu to the three wizards. Toby was the only one to get hit, Lyon shielded himself while the other person stop it mid air.

By the time Lyon lowered the shield, Natsu had wrapped his own body in flames and collided with him head-first.

 **"Fire Dragon Sword-Horn!"** The impact didn't even slow Natsu down; he and Lyon were nearly at the ceiling when the ice wizard's body began to crack like glass and then shattered.

"Oh god, is he dead?"

"No." Lyon's voice came from behind them. "He hit my Ice Fake." The brown haired teen's whole eyes was covered in green and send a concentrated beam to him making Lyon dodge instead of making a shield, remembering what the other had done before; instead he focused on Natsu, who was just starting to fall.

"Let's see you dodge in midair!" Lyon held out his hand. **"Ice Make: Eagle!"**

The flock of Ice Eagles darted towards the falling Dragon Slayer, but Natsu only angled his face upwards and shot a breath of fire and landed on bouncy thing Ben materialized.

Another flock of Ice Eagles was headed right at them before Jack's Icy breathe shattered them. Jack flied to the ice mage and activated his intangibility before flying through the Ice mage freezing him. " **Galeas Disruptus**." Ben sent a strong gust of wind to him making the ice shatter and sending him to the wall.

Lyon dropped to his knees on the floor wheezing. He glared at the green eyed teen and his pet. 

Just as Ben was about to deliver the final blow and knocked the ice mage out he felt some shift. He turn to see that Zalty had his hand held out, and the floor beneath the two suddenly grew brittle and turned to dust, sending the two plummeting to the lower levels of the temple.

"Very fortunate, Cold Emperor." The masked man remarked. "Luck is on your side."

Luck, however, wasn't on the side of Toby, who had been scorched by one of Natsu's attacks.

"Can we keep the whole 'Toby got charred' thing a secret too?" He whined pitifully.

"What did you do?" Lyon asked, suspicious of Zalty's unknown magic.

"Whatever do you mean?" Zalty asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb with me." Lyon snapped. "Your magic had to have caused that hole in the floor."

"Heh, don't you have ever the watchful eye?" Zalty commented, "Please allow me to explain my actions, sir. You're the only one strong enough to defeat Deliora, so it's imperative that you remain safe until his resurrection."

The air around Lyon became dense with a cold fog. "Are you suggesting that _I_ could fall victim to such paltry magic?

With fingers twitching, the floor, walls and ceiling became covered in thin layer of ice. The only surface the thin layer of ice didn't touch was the space where the three of them is in and also the hole they just fell off.

"Leave me." Lyon commanded, just as Natsu, Ben and Jack climbed back up. "I can take care of this myself. Once I finally defeat the demon, everyone will worship my name, Cold Emperor Lyon. I've worked too hard to let these two brats tarnish this day."

"Hah. You're quite an arrogant person, considering that you can't even defeat us what makes you think that you can defeat something like that." Ben snorted. Seriously the ice mage has a lot of issues.

"Why do you want to fight Deliora? The thing looks half dead already! You're going to all of the trouble to melt that ice just so you can fight it!?" Natsu added making Ben whipped his head in his direction.

"Natsu, you continue to surprise me in your level of intelligence." He told the pink haired teen in genuine awed. Jack chirped in agreement.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Natsu yelled indignantly. "And what's with those look?!"

"I must rise above Ur's legacy." Lyon declared, even as he sent another wave of Ice Eagles at the two. "I will not rest until I have fulfilled my dream!"

"Why go this far?" Natsu asked, dodging the attack, while Jack shattered them with his icy breathe as Ben stayed put. "Can't you just challenge Ur and be done with it?"

"I would if I _could_!" Lyon snapped. "But Ur has been dead for years, and it's all Gray's fault! If he hadn't challenged Deliora to a fight, Ur wouldn't have had to sacrifice herself to seal the demon away!"

Natsu then remembered Gray telling him that Ur had sacrificed everything fighting Deliora. "I didn't know that she'd died sealing it."

Distracted by the revelation, Natsu didn't notice the Ice Eagle until it was inches from his face; it was only stopped when Jack's icy breathe shattered it.

"That's a pathetic goal." Ben told the ice mage sardonically. " I never knew Ur, but if she was willing to sacrifice her life to stop Deliora, I'm pretty sure she'd want you to stop what you're doing. You're letting your emotions cloud your rationality."

"Shut up!" Lyon yelled at the energy-user and sent another batch of ice eagle at him which simply shattered after slamming to a green barrier.

Despite being outnumbered, as well as facing an elemental disadvantage, Lyon was doing an admirable job of fending off his opponents, matching them move-for-move. He seems to be tiring real fast though, and the three of them still have a lot energy to spare.

"No one's gonna stop me!" 

"And, that's it." Ben held his hand up. "Let's get this wrapped up."

Ben was about to send the other to sleep when the wall behind him burst out and Gray came out of it.

"Good to see you on your feet, Gray," Ben greeted the other ice mage. "Where are Lucy and Erza?"

"They're fighting those robed goons. They shouldn't have too much trouble. Now, both of you back off." Gray said to Ben and Natsu. "It's time Lyon and I ended this once and for all."

"No way, man!" Natsu told him. "You already lost to him once!"

"And it won't happen again," Gray countered confidently. "I'm ready this time."

"You seem awfully cocky," Lyon said.

 _'Are you sure that's not you? You sure look ready to fall over.'_ Ben thought scathingly. Gray may not be fully magically recovered but he certainly look better than the silver haired man.

The raven-haired wizard was quiet for a moment. "You were right, Lyon." Gray admitted. "I _am_ responsible for Ur's death."

Lyon's eyes narrowed.

"But you're no better." Gray continued. "You threatened my friends, brought harm to the villagers and now you're trying to destroy what Ur gave her life to create. It's time we faced our punishment together."

Gray widened his stance, stretching out his arms, and then crossing them at the wrists. While Ben, Jack and Natsu were confused, Lyon looked absolutely terrified.

"That stance… not the Iced Shell!"

"Oh for the love of all things that is holy...why are people so stupid?" Ben muttered to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Are you insane?" Lyon demanded. "You wouldn't dare!"

"If you want to live." Gray said. "Change the villagers back to their human forms, and then leave this island and never return!" An icy-blue magic circle appeared under Gray's feet. "If you'll agree to that, I'll stop; otherwise, this is the end."

Lyon's confident smirk returned. "Is that so? Well, I don't believe a word of it. You're bluffing!"

In response, a torrent of ice began to spread from the magic circle.

"No, I'm not," Gray responded, his tone deadly serious.

"You'll die!" Lyon tried to use his own magic to block the attack, but it was blown away by the sheer power of Gray's spell.

"Don't do it!" Natsu shouted. He would have been knocked back by Gray's magic as well, but Ben shielded him along with Jack from the strong icy wind.

"Come on man." Ben tried to convince the other. "There is always another way."

"All these years, I've lied to myself." Gray voiced, ignoring Ben's protest. "I didn't want to admit that Ur died because of me, but she did, and it's time I took responsibility. So I will, here and now. I'm not afraid to die, if that what it takes!"

"Stop this now!" Lyon was practically pleading.

"What's it going to be, Lyon?" Gray demanded. "Are we going to die, or are we going to live? It's up to you!"

"You wouldn't," Lyon said, a hint of a sneer on his face, "you're not brave enough to give your life! You're too much of a coward!"

"Just watch me," Gray whispered.

 _'Natsu, Ben, all my friends in Fairy Tail, the rest is up to you.'_ he thought. ' _I don't want to leave, but my time is up.'_

" **Iced Sh** …"

Gray's spell was interrupted when Natsu punch him in the face. 

"Wha-?" Ben cried out, Natsu didn't even use his flame and he shattered the barrier Ben created, granted it was not a strong one, but still.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're trying to pull!?" Natsu demanded.

"What about you two!?" Gray shot back. "When I got here, the first thing I said was to get back!"

"And I said no way!" Natsu growled.

"I've got a score to settle with this guy!" Gray protested.

"How is killing yourself 'settling a score'?" Ben sneered. "If anything, dying and leaving us to clean up the mess just makes you a coward. Are you?"

Gray flinched, and then slumped. To be honest he hadn't thought that far, all that was in his mind is escaping the guilt that was consuming him piece by piece.

Before Gray could apologize, the room began to shake.

"Oh, what now?" asked an exasperated Natsu.

The room, as well as the rest of the temple, had been resting at an angle; however, it was now falling back to its original position. In a few moments, it was as if the damage that Natsu and Ben had inflicted had never happened.

Natsu let go of Gray and began stomping the ground in frustration while Ben was just confused. What the heck had happened?

"This is bad," Gray said, getting back up. "Now the moon's gonna shine on Deliora!"

"Pardon the interruption." Zalty said, entering the room. He had slipped out during the fight between Lyon, Natsu and NRG.

"I should have known." Lyon said calmly. " _You_ did all this?"

"The moon will be out soon." Zalty replied. "So I thought I'd straighten the temple for you."

"That weirdo fixed the temple all by himself?" Gray asked; impressed by the level of power that must have required.

"And after all the trouble we went through to mess it up, too." Natsu complained. He then shook his fist at Zalty. "Hey, so what'd you do to fix it, huh?"

Zalty looked at Natsu in surprise as if noticing him for the first time, and then laughed maniacally. 

"TELL ME HOW YOU FIXED IT, YOU JERK!" Natsu screamed.

"Well, if everything else is in order, I'll go prepare the Moon Drip ceremony." Zalty stated before running off down a corridor.

"Would you quit ignoring me, you masked freak!" Natsu shouted as he began to chase after him.

"Wait, Natsu!" Ben called out to the dragon slayer. 

Before Natsu left the room, he spun around and pointed at Gray. "Ben, Jack and I'll handle that masked jerk. I'll leave Lyon to you."

Gray and Ben both blink in surprised. After Gray had almost killed himself, Natsu was suddenly trusting him to beat Lyon?

Natsu turned around, his back to Gray. "It'll look bad if you lose again."

"Yeah." Gray said determination in his tone.

"Not just for you." Natsu continued.

"I know what you mean." Gray, as well as Natsu, both said. "But for all of Fairy Tail!"

Ben stared at the two in awe, so this is what the Master meant.

Natsu took off after Zalty. Ben gave Gray a thumbs-up, and then went after the Dragon Slayer. Jack closely followed after his Daddy.

"My, my," Lyon said after they left, "Such a boisterous group you are."

"Let me ask you something, a second ago, when I was gonna freeze us both, were you counting on either Natsu or Ben to stop me before I could finish?" He inquired.

"No." Lyon answered. "The opposite, in fact. I never thought that anyone would be foolish enough to get near a spell like that."

"So you were just going to stand there and take the hit?" Gray asked, surprised.

"Exactly." Lyon said smugly. "Because someone would come to rescue me. You, on the other hand, would be finished for good."

"I should have known," Gray murmured to himself.

"Certainly, it would have been inconvenient." Lyon continued. "However, my allies are as devoted to my cause as I am, and as long as we're on this island, they can use Moon Drip to melt the ice whenever they saw fit."

Gray looked down. "I didn't think of that. I guess the Iced Shell is completely useless here."

 _'And my sacrifice would have been for nothing.'_ He thought; at that moment, he was grateful that Natsu had stopped him when he did.

"Even so," Lyon said, "you _still_ want to fight? After what happened last time?"

Gray didn't reply.

"Don't fool yourself," Lyon laughed, "you could never…"

"That's enough," Gray interrupted.

"What?"

"Just forget about Deliora," Gray said softly.

"What kind of nonsense is this?" Lyon asked, genuinely confused. "Your threats don't work, so you turn to begging? Does your guild have dentist that removes your fangs, or are you just a coward?"

"Lyon, there's something I have to tell you." Gray said.

"What is it?" Lyon asked, now annoyed.

"Ur… is still alive."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the confusion, I merge the chapter 1 and 2 since they're to short. This is a new chapter.
> 
> Thx for reading


	8. Deliora Awakened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the grammatical mistakes and errors throughout the chapter. Also, Ben's 'spells' are either from the series (Ben 10) or a translated words or phrases by the google translate.
> 
> Also, I posted two new chapters today, including chapter 7, you see, my OCD can't take it and I merge the chapter 1 and 2 since it keeps bothering me how short it was.
> 
> Anyway, Enjoy!

"Natsu, slow down a second!" Ben yelled as he ran after the Dragon Slayer. Jack was flying beside him.

"No way!" Natsu called back, chasing the still-fleeing Zalty. "Not until he tells me how he fixed the temple!"

Finally, Zalty stopped running and pointed his hand at the spot above Natsu; a chunk of the ceiling came loose and fell right at him!

"Look out!" Blasting a disk of mana from his hand he destroyed the stone. "See, _that's_ why you should have waited for me!" He told the pink hared teen when catch up to him. Jack unfroze the dragon slayer.

"Sorry," Natsu said sheepishly. He then noticed that Zalty wasn't done. The masked man waved his hand, and the chunk of ceiling lifted back to where it was the damage disappearing like it was never there.

"That's how I fixed the temple." Zalty explained.

"You reversed time." Ben realized immediately, remembering Levy's lecture about lost magic when he have done some 'impossible' tricks. "You used lost magic."

From the way that Zalty whipped his head around to look at Ben, he was completely surprised.

"Yes, I did. How did you figure it out so quickly?"

"I know someone who can do the same thing." Ben replied, remembering Professor Paradox. "And I can do it to, to certain extent." As a demonstration he made the ceiling above the hooded man collapsed without any spell.

"Hmph." Zalty reversed his magic and he appeared a bit put out. "Still, this magic is extremely rare, rare enough that it is one of the Lost Magics, a type of magic so powerful and dangerous that it has been lost to history. The fact that you know someone, and that you can do it, it's quite a miracle the Magic council has no information of you."

"I'm from a small obscured town outside of Magnolia." Ben replied, putting up the excuse Mira told him to tell when people ask. 

"Your Dragon Slayer magic is another example of Lost Magic." Zalty continued, gesturing at Natsu.

"Wow, really?" Natsu asked.

"Seriously, dude?" Ben deadpanned. "I thought people who used magic had to know their stuff before they could use it?"

Before Natsu could reply, Zalty laughed and vanished, much to the irritation of his opponents.

 _'Why is it that time-users love to disappear like that?'_ Ben wondered, remembering the times Paradox did the same.

...

Lyon didn't move a muscle, staring at Gray with wide eyes.

"The Iced Shell doesn't actually kill its caster." Gray went on. "It uses their body to form the barrier; the ice keeping Deliora sealed away, which you've been trying to melt, _is_ Ur. She isn't dead; she lives on in that ice."

Lyon just stared at him.

"I'm sorry that I never told you the truth back then." Gray apologized sincerely. "Ur made me promise to keep it a secret. She worried that if you knew, you'd spend the rest of your life trying to change her back."

"Of course." Lyon mumbled.

"It's over." Gray declared, stepping closer to Lyon. "There's no reason to go through with this anymore."

Lyon raised his hand, but before Gray could react, he placed it against Gray's right side and sent an icicle straight through him! Gray fell to his knees, clutching the wound in agony; it didn't feel like it hit anything vital, but it still hurt.

"You idiot." Lyon said. "I know how the spell works. I can assure you that she isn't alive anymore. That's nothing more than a chunk of ice!"

Gray pulled the ice out of his side and tried to rise. "You… you knew all along?"

"Knowing is one thing, believing is another, and if you truly believe that Ur is alive in there, then you're an even bigger fool than I thought."

"You knew the truth?" Gray said through teeth clenched in pain and rage. "And you still did this!?"

"And what of it?" Lyon asked as Gray got to his feet. Before he could react, Gray had covered the distance between them and delivered a punch that sent him flying into the wall.

"I-impossible!" Lyon gasped, "How can you move with that wound?"

"Enough." Gray snarled coldly. "I wanted to save you, but I give up now."

Lyon staggered to his feet. "You want the title of star pupil for yourself? Well I'm sorry, but I have to fight against Deliora soon, and I'd rather not waste my magic energy on you."

Gray took a fighting stance. "Then we'll just use our fists instead!"

"Ha! You want me to fight you without using magic? That's fine by me."

Gray made the first move charging forward, but Lyon moved around his punch and struck him in his wound, nearly making him fall to the ground again.

"Aim for your opponent's weak spot, then hit it with all your might." Lyon mocked. "Ur taught us that, remember?"

"You have no right to speak her name!" Gray attacked again, but Lyon drove his knee into Gray's gut, winding him.

Stunned, Gray was left wide open for a barrage of punches and kicks from Lyon.

"What a shame." Lyon said, sounding bored. "Your fists are as weak as your magic."

Every time Gray tried to attack, Lyon would counter, sending him hurtling to the floor or into a wall. Despite that, Gray actually started to smile. His own stubbornness reminded him of all the times that he and Natsu had fought when they were younger. He hadn't given up then, and he wouldn't give up now! He got up one more time; seeing this sent Lyon into a rage.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance!" He yelled, both men's fists hitting the other's face; for a moment, they were stuck like that, before a burst of strength from Gray sent Lyon crashing into another wall.

"You're gonna have to step up your game if you want to beat me!" Gray shouted. Lyon rushed forward again and the two began exchanging hits. "I've never given up before, and I won't give up here! I'm not going to lose to you!"

With a final roar, Gray sent Lyon flying, and this time, he didn't charge back in; instead, Lyon used a chunk of ice to drag himself upright, panting heavily.

"The Cold Emperor." He said angrily. "Defeated in battle by the likes of you!? I won't stand for it!"

"Then get over here." Gray panted, he was barely standing up. "And fight!"

Gritting his teeth, Lyon pointed his hand at Gray. **"Ice Make: Ice Dragon!"**

A giant dragon of ice flew at Gray, clamping its jaws on the wizard; fortunately, Gray was able to break the ice enough that he was able to fall out of the construct's mouth. Still, it was another painful wound.

"I thought we agreed not to use magic, Lyon!" Gray yelled, getting back up. Oh, Ben's gonna be so mad, he was just healed earlier.

"Don't be such a poor loser." Lyon huffed. "This duel was pointless from the start. Deliora will be revived either way; it's far too late to stop me now!"

"I won't stop trying!" Gray declared defiantly.

"Try all you want." Lyon challenged. "But Zalty is preparing the Moon Drip ceremony as we speak."

"Natsu, Ben and Jack won't let him." Gray said, smiling, "The second you underestimate Natsu is the second you lose, Ben is much more powerful than you can imagine and Jack will do anything for his Father. Your friend doesn't have a prayer."

...

Zalty stood before the frozen form of Deliora, his grin in full force.

"At long last." He whispered, before the sound of yelling made him dodge a fiery punch.

"There you are!" Natsu yelled. "I'll burn that stupid smile right off your face!"

Zalty dodged another attack, this time a couple of energy like disk, it came from the energy-user who glared at Natsu.

"What part of 'wait until I'm in position' did you not understand?" He yelled at the Dragon Slayer.

"I couldn't help it." Natsu protested. "He pisses me off!"

Zalty laughed. "The term 'hot-headed' certainly applies to you, Salamander. By the way, how did you manage to find me?"

"I followed my nose," Natsu answered. "For some reason; you reek of lady's perfume."

Ben blinked and gave Zalty a pointed stare. "You have issues, dude. That's so...ugh..."

Zalty laughed it off. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have other things to do."

"What, like trying on nail polish?" Ben joked, but received no reaction.

"Like reviving Deliora," Zalty responded.

"Just forget about it already." Natsu said confidently. "It's not gonna happen."

"Really?" Zalty asked in mock-concern. "Why is that, pray tell?"

"Because Gray is gonna kick that ice-guy's butt." Natsu retorted strongly.

"And _we're_ gonna kick _your_ butt!" Ben added as he ready another disk of mana in his hand.

"We'll just see about that." Zalty said in an almost-serious tone, and then pointed at Deliora.

To the shock of Natsu and Ben, there was a stream of Moon Drip hitting the ice! What the hell?

"Someone's performing the ceremony?" Natsu asked.

"But I thought Gray said that Lucy and Erza were taking care of it?" Ben paused. Jack shrugged.

"They took out the chanters." Zalty confirmed. "But Toby snuck out during the fighting and is performing the ceremony on his own. It won't be much Moon Drip with only one person, but it will only take a little more to free the demon anyway."

Sure enough, a huge chunk of the ice began to crack and shatter, causing Natsu to panic.

"Ah! I gotta get up there and stop him!" He rushed to the exit, but Zalty used his magic to once again send a chunk of ceiling falling at him. Natsu barely dodged in time.

"I'm afraid that neither of you are going anywhere." Zalty said with a sadistic smile. "I guess chasing me was a mistake."

"No, not getting you to shut up is a mistake!" Ben yelled, sending the disk on his hand to the hooded man with weird fetish. Jack blew ice at Zalty who freeze the attacks.

"Ben said you shut up!" Natsu yelled sending a whip of flames.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Zalty asked. "You might make the ice melt faster."

"If the ice could be melted with fire, you wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble! Bluff all you want, but once we're done here; all we gotta do is stop the ceremony!"

"And here I was, thinking you weren't that clever." Zalty laughed. "But it seems that I was wrong."

Behind the combatants, the frozen body of Deliora began to shake; the vibrations were strong enough to make the entire temple shudder.

...

"Why do I get the feeling that that wasn't Natsu or Ben?" Gray asked, feeling the temple shake.

"The ceremony is nearing completion." Lyon said triumphantly. "The ice sealing Deliora is melting away."

 _'Ur…'_ Gray thought.

"There's nothing you can do." Lyon bragged. "It's too late to stop it! You and your friends have failed!" an icy mist gathered around him. "Do you have any idea how long I've waited for this, Gray? All these years, I've been gathering allies and obtaining knowledge; it was fortunate that I found this place." He sent a flock of Ice Eagles at Gray, who barely dodged them. "It wasn't an easy task, transporting Deliora to Galuna, and the Moon Drip has taken three years!"

Backed into a corner, Gray raised an Ice Shield, letting the Ice Eagles shatter against it. "You've been working on this stupid plan for three years!?"

"Stupid!?" Echoed an outraged Lyon. "How dare you say that! You've spent the last _ten_ years peddling your life away in some foolish guild!"

Finally, Lyon's barrage broke Gray's shield, but he was able to dodge Lyon's latest attack. "Because I put my faith in what Ur taught us! She said that in the western countries, there were lots of strong wizards to teach me; so I went west, and I joined Fairy Tail. I asked Master Makarov if he knew any way to break the spell, but he said there wasn't, except for one way; he wouldn't tell me what it was, but I bet he was thinking about the Moon Drip."

Gray looked at Lyon with cold hatred. "After everything Ur did for us, taking us in, raising us, training us… you'd still kill her without a second thought. You make me sick."

"Say what you will, I don't care." Lyon responded. "My entire life has led up to this moment. Our master is long dead; if we want to prove that we have surpassed her, what can we do in her absence?" a dragon head surrounded Lyon's hand, and he lunged at Gray. "There's only one answer: Deliora! I will surpass our master by defeating what she could not!"

Gray bobbed and weaved, avoiding Lyon's attacks. "I'll admit, that's a pretty ambitious plan, but I can't help but think that you missed the point along the way!" Gray quickly created a sword of ice and shattered Lyon's dragon-fist. "Someone as blind as you could never be better than Ur, not in a hundred years! Wake up, Lyon!"

Gray slashed his sword across Lyon's chest, but instead of falling to his knees, Lyon shattered into a pile of ice; it was another Ice Fake!

"Fooled you, didn't I?" Lyon said from behind him, **"Ice Make: Snow Tiger!"**

A giant tiger of ice leaped at Gray who, despite his wounds, did an impressive back-flip over the beast and pointed his palms downwards.

 **"Ice Make: Prison!"** An ornate cage appeared around the tiger, trapping it.

Gray stood on top of the prison and glared at Lyon.

"You see this, Lyon? This is what you are." he taunted. "A beast in a cage, lashing out at a world he barely knows!"

"Utter nonsense." Lyon snarled, waving his hand. "I'll make quick work of that ice!"

Despite his claims, the tiger within the prison could not get free, no matter how much it struggled. Lyon stepped back in shock as Gray jumped down in front of him.

"Single-handed spell casting is too unbalanced; your creations will let you down when you need them the most."

Gray placed his hands together, and a magic circle appeared under his feet. When he separated his hands, a large bazooka appeared in them, which he then aimed at Lyon.

**"Ice Cannon!"**

The cannon fired the blast so powerful that it blew a gaping hole through the side of the temple. Lyon fell to the ground, his clothes shredded and his body covered in wounds. Gray lowered the cannon, slightly disappointed. He had only glanced Lyon with that shot, though whether Lyon had managed to dodge at the last second or if he'd subconsciously missed on purpose, Gray didn't know.

"Thanks for teaching me that move, Ur." Gray said softly, and then groaned in pain. He looked at the wound Lyon had inflicted with that icicle, and then used his magic to freeze it shut. "Ow, I knew I should have sealed this sooner."

He would have relaxed, but a noise rang out throughout the temple. It was a noise that haunted his nightmares, even though he hadn't heard it in ten years; it was both a high-pitched screech and a low growl that nearly paralyzed him with fear.

Deliora.

...

In the depths of the temple, Natsu, Ben and Jack tried to block out the noise as the ice around the frozen demon cracked and fell apart.

"Yes!" Zalty shouted exuberantly. "It's free!"

…

"Was that the demon?" Erza asked, as she, Lucy and Happy made their way into the temple, after they'd defeated Lyon's troops.

"Oh no." Lucy gasped in horror. "They brought it back to life!?"

"Hey, wait." Happy pointed at a purple column of light. "If the demon is back, why is the Moon Drip still coming down?"

"Perhaps Deliora isn't completely revived." said Erza, tapping her chin in thought. "Which means that we can still stop it; come on!"

…

"Oh crud." Ben remarked. "Jack, knock the dog-man out of the equation." 

Jack nodded and flied away.

"I'm done wasting my time with you!" Natsu exclaimed. He charged toward Zalty, but a green sphere collided with his head, sending him flying. The sphere flew towards the small masked man, where it orbited around his wrist.

"Ready when you are," Zalty said, grinning.

"Why, you…" Natsu charged Zalty again, and the green sphere headed right at him. This time, Natsu shattered it in a single blow. Before he could celebrate, however, the pieces came back together, reforming the sphere!

"He's doing that time-reversal thing, Natsu!" Ben warned. His eye sockets widened as an idea popped up in his head. "Dude, I've got a plan. I'll take care of everything else. You just get ready to attack again!"

"Got it!" Natsu replied.

Zalty send the green sphere to Ben who simply send a beam of mana to it and freezing it. " **Ex Tempus**."

The altercation of unfreezing and freezing it carry on for a while before Zalty stopped.

"It would appear that we are at a stalemate." Zalty said, smirking.

"Maybe." Ben replied. "But you're at a considerable disadvantage you know."

"Why's that?"

"I can use more than one hand at a time!" Ben raised his other hand, and a beam of green light struck the wizard, pausing him in time. "Natsu, now!"

"All right!" the Dragon Slayer charged forward. **"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"**

The blow sent Zalty flying through the walls. He's no longer an issue.

The roaring Deliora was, however.

...

On top of the temple, Toby fell to the ground in pain, he was covered in ice and Erza was standing over him with a raised sword. Even though he'd been defeated, Toby still looked triumphant.

"You're too late! The ceremony is already completed; Deliora is free!"

...

With a twitch of its shoulders, Deliora shook off the last of the ice that had entrapped in for ten years and took a step forward.

"No." Gray's voice caused Natsu and Ben to turn and see the limping ice wizard walking towards them.

"Sorry Gray, we couldn't stop it. I guess our only choice is to take that thing down." Natsu stated.

"No, maybe I can still reverse it." 

All the people in the cave snapped their heads to him.

"You can?" Natsu asked in surprised.

"No." Gray countered. "Even if you can, doesn't mean you should. You look ready to fall into a coma. We have no choice but to take it down."

True to Gray's words Ben was feeling very exhausted, time magic takes a lot mana and filtering the ethernano in the air is an exhaustively long process, if Ben's estimation was right, he only have one eight left in his accessible magic, which means he have to tap on his Anodite reserves, which might end with destroying his human body. 

The roar of Deliora sounded again, making everyone flinch.

"None… none of you are strong enough." Lyon's voice weakly called out behind them, and they saw the Cold Emperor dragging himself towards the demon, an insane smile on his face. "But I am… _I_ will defeat Deliora."

"Dude." Ben coughed, swaying sideways only for Gray to catch him before he fell to the ground. "You looked worse than me. Right now, you can challenge a praying mantis in a duel and the praying mantis will come out victorious."

"S-silence!" Lyon shouted, "I _am_ going to surpass Ur… at long last."

"You can't fight." Natsu said incredulously; even _he_ wasn't this stubborn. "You can't even get up off the floor!"

Lyon ignored them, continuing to drag himself across the ground; then, with titanic effort, he hauled himself to his feet.

"My dream… will be… fulfill—ugh!"

Gray didn't allow him to finish, knocking Lyon out with a single blow to the head, whilst supporting Ben who coughed again.

"You okay?" The ice mage asked worriedly to the smaller teen.

"Yeah. Time magic just take so much mana."

"Thanks for knocking him out, he was getting annoying." Natsu crossed his arms.

"I just wanted him to stop. He's done enough damage." Gray stared up at the demon. "Natsu, you were right."

"About what?" Natsu asked.

"About how killing myself, and letting my friends finish the fight, is cowardly. I'm not going to run away like that ever again." He grinned at Natsu. "I'm gonna fight this freak. You want in?"

Natsu grinned right back. "Oh yeah! Let's do this!"

Ben smiled and removed himself from Gray, letting the two incompatible wizards do their job. He step back a few to the side lines so he won't get in the way when Deliora took another step forward, the single act enough to shake the entire cavern. Ben, who was still shaky, fell forward, landing right in front of the demon.

"Ben!" Both Gray and Natsu yelled, running forward to help their friend.

Deliora raised a fist to crush Ben, who instinctively held up his arms. The demon's fist flew forward, but it was met by the combined fists of both Natsu and Gray; amazingly, the giant fist was held back, even though the fist was bigger than either wizard's entire body.

Then, before their very eyes, Deliora's hand began to crumble into dust! The effect traveled up the demon's arm, until the entire monster had literally gone to pieces.

"Whoa." Breathed Ben. "Is it just me or that was very anticlimactic. Either you guys are super strong or that's one weak dude."

"No…" Lyon muttered, apparently now awake. "Deliora was already dead. For ten years, Ur's spell was gradually depleting the demon's life-force; what we just saw was its last breath."

"Wow." Natsu said, patting Gray on the back. "Your teacher was pretty awesome!"

"Yeah." Gray said, a few tears falling down his face as he realized that his nightmare was finally over. "She was."

For Ben, the next few minutes became a blur. First Lucy, Happy and Erza arrived, the latter causing Natsu to freak out. In an act of compassion, Gray had helped Lyon out of the temple; Lyon himself looked almost peaceful, as if the destruction of Deliora caused his manic obsession to fade.

"Oh yeah!" Natsu cheered as they exited the temple, he's movements were limited though as Ben was perch on his back. "We totally finished an S-Class quest all by ourselves!"

"You're right!" Lucy said excitedly. "Do you think Master Makarov will let us onto the second floor now?"

The celebratory mood was shattered by Erza's glare; even Ben, who knew he wasn't really in trouble, felt unsettled by it.

"Isn't there something you're all forgetting about?" Erza demanded, "You came to this island to help the villagers; the request was for you to return them to their original forms. This quest still isn't completed."

"Aw, man." Natsu moaned. "Can't it ever be easy?"

"But I don't understand." Lucy said. "The curse should've been lifted now that Deliora is dead."

"Wrong," Erza replied. "This curse you keep talking about never had anything to do with the demon. The villagers have been affected by the intense magical energy from the Moon Drip spell. In other words, Deliora's death isn't going to change their situation whatsoever."

"W-What? Oh no." Lucy's eyes had widened in realization as she placed a hand over her mouth in shock.

"Well, we better go and change them back." Natsu exclaimed happily.

"Aye sir!" Happy agreed as both exchanged high-fives.

"Yeah, but we don't know how." Gray said. Then, his face lit up as he got an idea. He turned to Lyon, who was leaning against a boulder behind him. He had taken off his body armor, leaving him in a blue jacket, black pants, and steel boots. "Lyon, do you know?"

"To be quite honest, I don't have a clue." Lyon answered impassively.

Natsu and Happy looked at him incredulously.

"You don't know?" asked Natsu.

"What?" Happy added in disbelief.

"Something's not adding up." Lucy frowned. "The villagers told us that the curse started around the same time you guys got here."

"When we first arrived here three years ago." Lyon explained. "We were aware that there was a village somewhere on this island. But we had absolutely no reason to communicate with the villagers, so we left them alone. They never came to the temple to see what we were up to."

"In three years, you've never once met?" Erza said disbelievingly.

"I don't understand. The light from the Moon Drip is so bright you can see it practically from any point on the island. It's kinda weird they saw it every night and never went to investigate." Lucy noted.

"Yeah." Ben agreed, a brow arched. "There is something fishy about this."

"FISH?!" A now excited Happy yelled. "Where?"

"I didn't mean fish, I meant like there's something odd about those villagers." Ben deadpanned. 

"Aww…" A disappointed Happy moaned. Jack patted the blue feline's head in comfort.

"The spell didn't transform the villagers." Lyon continued. "The Moon Drip has no effect on the human body."

"What?" Gray inquired dumbfounded.

"Yeah right." Natsu accused. "You're just saying that so you and your lackeys will be off the hook."

"Just think about it." The former 'Cold Emperor' said. "I've been exposed to it longer than they have, and my appearance hasn't changed one bit."

"Oh yeah! That's true." Lucy realized.

"Their magic isn't like anyone I've encounter before." Ben told the rest making them turn to him. "It's like light magic was never in their system, just dark."

"I wouldn't trust them." Lyon warned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Those villagers are hiding something, but I'm sure you guild wizards can handle it."

"I'm technically not part of their guild." Ben cut out.

"We're not done with you." Natsu stated sternly. "You destroyed the entire village and…"

The Dragon Slayer's ranting was stopped when Erza squished his cheeks together.

"That's quite enough, Natsu." Erza ordered.

The Queen of the Fairies retold Toby's explanation for why they agreed to help Lyon. It was revealed that Lyon's followers had lost their families, friends, and everything they owned to Deliora. He'd convinced them that if they helped him free it, he would kill it, and obtain revenge for all of them.

Ben and the rest of the team felt for them and could understand why they did it. Nevertheless, to Ben, that still didn't justify their actions in threatening the villagers only to get vengeance upon a demon that was already locked away in a huge chunk of ice.

"They were only doing what they believed to be right. So, there's no need to criticize them for it." Erza explained. She then let go off Natsu's face. "Now, let's go."

"But what are we going to do to lift the curse?" The pink haired wizard inquired.

"I have no idea." Erza replied straight away.

"Oh great…" Lucy muttered.

Erza, Natsu, Ben, Lucy, and Happy walked away toward the storage area, leaving only Gray and Lyon behind. The former looked at his old friend with a sympathetic look.

Lyon simply glared at him. "What do you want?"

"I know you don't want to hear it, but you really should join a Guild. You'll make new friends, make new rivals, and maybe even find a new dream to live for." Gray answered.

Lyon's expression softened a bit, but he then turned away with an angry scowl. "Whatever." He grumbled "Just get out of here!"

Gray smiled slightly as he turned and walked away.

...

The team had just arrived at the storage area that was serving as the villagers' temporary home. However, something wasn't right. There wasn't a single soul present throughout the mass of tents. Only the sounds of an owl hooting, or other forest animals could be heard.

"That's weird." Happy noted. "Where is everybody?"

"Are you sure they came here?" Natsu inquired skeptically.

"Yeah, this has been their camp." Lucy replied, though she too was confused about this dilemma. "I wonder where they could've gone."

"They couldn't have gone too far." Ben said, looking around. "I mean where else could they have gone on this tiny island?"

"HELLO!" Happy called out, flying above the ground.

"Since we're here I'm gonna grab some bandages and some medicine." Gray stated as he went inside a tent.

Suddenly, a male villager with green reptilian skin, black shorts, and a tail turned the corner of a tent.

"You made it back! There's something you need to see." He yelled with an enthusiastic tone. "Please just follow me to the village."

…

The shape-shifting hero and group of wizards followed the mutated man to the village, only to be met with a shocking sight. The entire village had been repaired! It looked just like it did when the team first arrived on the island. The villagers were walking around, clearly excited and perplexed how their home was suddenly fixed.

Ben blink. _'This seems like...'_

"Are you kidding me?" An awestruck Lucy said.

Happy flew by Lucy, he too was amazed. "Yesterday it was a total mess but now it looks perfect."

"What's going on here?!" Natsu demanded, knocking his fists against a building wall. "Everything looks the same. It's like the village went back in time!"

"Now that it's fixed you probably shouldn't touch anything, okay Natsu?" Lucy suggested halfheartedly.

"Are you saying I destroy everything I touch!?" Natsu yelled.

"Well…kinda," Lucy sighed.

Natsu's angry expression shifted into one of thought. "Back in time." He muttered. He then remembered Zalty and his time powers.

Ben, however, overheard Natsu and he too came to the same conclusion as the Dragon Slayer.

"Natsu, this is work of time magic." He whispered to the one carrying him.

"Nah, couldn't be him." Natsu whispered back. "Unless he had a change of heart."

The brown-haired teen shrugged. "It's possible. Honestly, it's the only explanation that makes sense. I haven't don anything to reverse the damages yesterday."

"What are you two whispering about?" Lucy asked.

Ben and Natsu turned to the blonde mage, sheepish grins on their faces.

"Nothing important…" Ben replied.

"Besides, who cares, right?" Natsu followed up.

"Not me." Happy said. Jack nodded.

The trio then walked off, but in Happy's case, he flew behind them, leaving an utterly confused Lucy. "What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Oh." Lucy gasped, a thought entering her head. "I forgot about our stuff."

The Celestial mage ran off to their tent, along the way, she encountered the village chief, Moka kneeling by his son's grave.

' _Bobo's grave is back.'_ Lucy thought. _'That's good. I'm sure the chief must be relieved.'_

Lucy stood behind him, not saying a word. A moment later, Moka glanced back at her. "You and your wizard friends used magic to restore our village, didn't you?"

"W-well…I…uh…" Lucy stuttered. She had no idea how the village was restored and didn't know how to tell the chief that she and her friends were not responsible.

The village chief pulled up on his staff and stood up, turning to face Lucy. "Hmph, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. However, I must know…" His look became more intense. "…when are you wizards finally going to destroy the moon for us?! Well!?"

Lucy started shaking in fear under the chief's glare, but she was quickly saved when Erza approached them.

"Destroying the moon is a simple task, sir." Erza answered casually.

"What?" Lucy, Happy and Gray remarked in shock.

"She's kidding, right?" Lucy questioned.

"Don't know, but it did look like she said it with a straight face." Gray replied with sweat rolling down his face in nervousness.

"Aye." Happy added. "Maybe she's gone crazy?"

"Ben." She called out to the brown haired teen that was now seated on a chair provided by one of the villagers, he even have a blanket in his lap and Jack was also sitting on him. "Talk her out of it. Tell her what you told us!"

Ben merely smiled back at her and shook his head before turning to Erza who was now speaking.

"But before I do that, I have to ask you all a few questions." Erza stated. "Would you mind calling in everybody for a meeting?"

...

Later, after having all the villagers gathered in front of the main gate, Erza and the rest of the team stood in front of them.

"Let me get my facts straight, the first time everyone began to take these demonic forms is when the moon turned purple, am I correct?" Erza asked.

"Yes." Answered Moka. "During the day we are fine but when the moon comes out we transform into what you see now."

"And the moon first turned purple three years ago, right?" Titania inquired, pacing side-to-side with her hands behind her back.

"Wow…has it really been that long?" A villager asked.

"Yeah." One replied, though he too sounded stunned.

"We've learned that the Moon Drip ceremony has been performed on this island every night for the last three years, and each night it produced a beam of light so brilliant that you couldn't have possibly missed it." Erza explained.

Suddenly, with a shriek, Erza stepped onto a pile of leaves and fell into a hole, which startled everyone.

"Whoa…even Lucy's lame trap is back." Happy said.

"She screamed…like a girl?" Natsu whispered in awe.

"Yeah…and it was kinda cute." Gray added.

"At least I'm not the only one who fell into that hole." Ben muttered, feeling a little better about himself. Jack purred in agreement.

"I AM SO GONNA BE DEAD MEAT WHEN SHE GETS OUT!" Lucy screamed hysterically.

Erza climbed out of the hole and stood back up, acting as if nothing ever happened. She crossed her arms over his chest armor. "Seriously, didn't you ever wonder where that light came from?" The scarlet haired wizard asked the villagers.

The villagers, however, weren't really focused on her question, rather how she had gotten out the hole in a nonchalant matter. Some even had drops of sweat running down their heads.

"She got up like nothing ever happened?" One whispered.

"Yeah, she must be pretty tough." Another added.

"I don't understand." continued Erza. "Why didn't anyone investigate?"

The villagers looked at each other and talked, however, it sounded as if they had no answer for her question. This made Ben turn to the villager, if their answer match what he predicts then his theory is confirm. 

"Well…" Moka responded. "We would've looked into it but according to village lore we are forbidden to ever go near that temple."

"Who cares about village lore when your people are dying?" Lucy countered. "You obviously knew there was a problem, which is why you contacted the magical guilds."

"Um…well. " The chief trailed off.

Erza had her attention directed to Moka, and asked. "Why don't you tell us what's _really_ going on here?"

"Well…to be honest, we don't even know that ourselves." The village chief confessed. "Allow me to explain, we tried to investigate the light many times. We took up weapons we never had to use, I trimmed and stylized my side-burns, and then we ventured into the jungle to the temple many times.

"But we could never get near it. We could see it through the trees, and then suddenly we'd find ourselves back at the village gates."

"But…how's that possible?" Lucy asked confused. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah," Natsu said.

"Aye," Happy agreed.

"We didn't say anything to you earlier because we were worried you wouldn't believe us." A villager said.

"We're telling you the truth." Another villager explained. "We've tried to go back to the temple many times."

"But not even a single villager has ever managed to get inside." A third villager concluded.

Erza stood there, absorbing this information. "I get it…yes." She whispered.

Lucy lightly gasped while Natsu, Gray, and Happy looked at the redhead with puzzled expressions. Erza stepped away, heading to the village tower that stood along the wooden wall that surrounded the settlement.

Suddenly, her entire form was shrouded by yellowish-white light. When it faded, her previous wear had disappeared, and was replaced by armor that was primarily yellow with blue highlights, had a blue cross on the torso plate, arched shoulder plates, and a white fur trim on the bottom of her shoulder plates.

' _Wow! That's pretty cool. Kinda reminds me of when Gwen transform.'_ Ben mused.

"Natsu, come with me. I'll need your help to destroy the moon." Erza said offhandedly.

"Really?!" Natsu exclaimed with a large, bright grin on his face.

"W-w-what?!" a shocked Lucy cried out.

Gray and Happy had similar reactions as they grew paler. Their jaws had dropped and their eyes grew wider than dinner plates whilst they stuttered incoherently. Even the villagers all stood motionless in shock.

"It's the only way to return the villagers to their human forms." Titania continued.

Their shock immediately evaporated and was replaced by happiness as they cheered in excitement.

"They're really going to do it!" A villager said. "And we get to watch it happen!"

"Right." another one agreed. "And we'll all get to be human again."

Natsu approached Erza, a big grin still present on his face. "Where do you think we should go? The temple? It's a lot higher up there."

"We'll do it from here." Erza replied impassively. "The villagers can't go near the temple and they need to witness this."

Gray, Lucy and Happy stood by. Gray looked at the duo as if they were crazy, Lucy was still shocked, and Happy looked excited.

"I don't know what she's thinking." Gray muttered. "I mean, she can do some amazing things…but still."

"What do you think she's going to do to it?" Lucy asked, her voice slightly quivering in fear.

"This is exciting, huh?" Happy said.

"More like terrifying." Lucy deadpanned before turning to the silent brown haired teen. "Ben talk her out of it please. I don't wanna face mass extinction!"

"Let her." Ben dismissed. "She knows what she's doing." Gray and Lucy stared in confusion at his answer.

"I'll explain later."

"There might not be later!" Lucy cried out. Ben ignored her.

The village chief eyed Erza's new armor with a neutral expression while his people were cheering behind him.

"This is Giant Armor." The redhead wizard explained. "It increases my strength and allows me to throw farther. And this…" Erza held out her right hand, and then a red magic circle appeared. After a flash of red, in her hand was a seven-foot-tall spear with a blue shaft, yellow armored base, and a cross shaped, yellow spear at the top. "…this is the Spear of Ha-Ja, it repels darkness."

The villagers 'oohed' and 'awed' in wonder at the armor and weapon, even Ben found himself in awe at Erza's abilities.

' _Wow…that's pretty cool.'_ Ben mused.

"Whoa!" Natsu exclaimed, his toothy grin growing bigger. "I see what you're up to now! You're going to use that spear to knock the moon out of the sky!"

Gray, Lucy and Happy looked at Natsu ridiculously.

' _Gimme a break.'_ the three thought in unison. _'That's never gonna work.'_

Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. "It doesn't work like that."

"That's right." Erza replied. "But I'm afraid I'll need more strength than this armor can give me." She turned to face Natsu. "So Natsu, I'm going to need your fire powers as a boost. Whenever I begin to throw the spear, I want you to hit the back of it with your flames. Now we'll have to plan our attack perfectly, but I think you should give me enough power to do the job."

"Sounds like a killer plan to me!" Natsu smiled.

"Then let's do it." Erza said.

She and Natsu headed toward the villager tower that stood by the wooden walls. Meanwhile, their other teammates stared at them as if they both had gone insane.

"They don't really think they're going to pull this off, do they?" Gray muttered.

"Whatever it is, I think they went off the deep end this time." Lucy said.

"Aye." Happy agreed.

"They'll be successful." The three turn to Ben again at that but the teen merely stared at the sky. "In lifting the 'curse' that is."

"Is it just me or did he seem to say the word curse with apostrophe?" Lucy whispered at Gray and Happy. The latter two nodded.

Moments later, Erza and Natsu were standing on top of the look-out tower, the former staring at the moon with determination. The villagers and the rest of the team watched the duo from below. The scarlet haired wizard reared back her spear and held it there. A yellow gem on her throwing arm was glowing brighter, gathering up strength and power.

"NOW!" yelled Erza.

Natsu's grin grew brighter than his hands. As Erza reared back the spear to its zenith, Natsu delivered a flaming punch into the back. As a result, the straw top of the tower blew apart, the spear shooting high into the sky like a rocket.

"They did it!" Happy cheered.

"What are they thinking?!" Lucy shrieked.

The Spear of Ha-Ja soared higher and higher into the sky, until the island below was nothing more than a dark spot in a vast blue ocean.

"Almost there!" Erza screamed.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom from above. Shockingly, cracks began to spread over the purple, cratered orb. The villagers began to cheer louder at the sight of the cracking moon.

"NO WAY!" Lucy and Gray screamed simultaneously.

However, everyone's shock was replaced by confusion as the cracks spread out from the moon…and into the sky? It was true. The night sky around the violet glowing moon was starting to crack away. Without warning, like glass, the purple moon and the sky shattered into thousands of pieces, revealing a normal blue glowing moon in its wake.

"The moon?" Natsu trailed off.

"It's still there?!" Moka shouted.

"I was right." Ben muttered in relief, stroking Jack in the head.

"It wasn't the moon that shattered." Lucy gaped, staring at the crystalline particles that rained around the island. "It was the sky."

From atop the tower, Natsu leaned over the railing, confused by this development. "What the heck is going on here?"

"As a result of the Moon Drip spell." Erza explained with a smile. "A nauseous membrane was covering the island."

"What?" asked Natsu.

"The Moon Drip released evil energy in the form of a gas." Ben continued his hands were glowing green and were out stretch to the sky. "That gas crystallized and formed an invisible shell in the sky that covered the island. That's why the moon looked purple here."

Suddenly, the villagers became startled as brilliant light illuminated under their feet.

"Now that the shell is broken." Erza finished. "Everything will go back to the way it was three years ago."

Then, the light vanished; however, nothing was changed. The villagers were still in their demonic forms.

"What happened? They're not transforming." Gray asked confused.

"Oh no." Happy muttered worriedly.

"That's because these are their true forms." Ben replied as he turn to his body to turn to the villagers. "The Moon Drip never had any effect on their appearance. However, it seems to have altered their memories."

"W-wait…what do you mean?" Lucy asked nervously.

"They think they're humans who have been transformed into demons, but it's the other way around." Ben explained. "Like I said, they have no Light magic in them only dark particles, they're not humans, they're demons, which is why they can't go inside the temple, it's a sacred place."

"Hey is that true?!" Gray demanded, getting in the face of a villager.

"Well…maybe." The villager stuttered. "My memory's still a little hazy. We all looked pretty human when y'all met us, didn't we?"

"Yes." Erza enlightened. "Because you all possess the ability to take on human forms. Your false memories led you all to believe that your temporary states were actually your true forms. In reality, you were actually victims to the Moon Drip's side-effects."

"How come Lyon and the others weren't affected?" Lucy inquired.

Erza turned to her. "I assume it's because they're human. As far as I can tell demons were the only ones susceptible to the memory loss. I knew what was going on as soon as the villagers said that they couldn't go near the temple. The moon's light was sacred; thus, preachers of darkness couldn't go anywhere near it."

"What do you need those for Ben?" Natsu inquired as a sphere of transparent green mana float to Ben's hand, inside it were shards of the moon drip.

"I want to study it." The brown haired teen replied. "It might proved beneficial in the future." 

Natsu merely stared in incredulity before dismissing it. Ben has many weird quirks -like drinking pickles, mustard and dark chocolate smoothy- maybe it's just one of them.

"I knew I could trust you and your friends. Thanks wizards, I owe you one." One of the demons said.

The group turned to the source and was stunned by who they saw. Lucy and Happy hugged each other tightly as they shrieked girlishly. Gray and Natsu felt their jaws drop again from the sight of the purple-skinned demon that had appeared out of nowhere.

"It's the guy from the boat!" Gray exclaimed.

Moka felt his eyes tear up and his lips quiver from the sight of his son that he had presumed dead. "Bobo." He mumbled.

"Huh." A confused villager said. "But we thought you were dead!"

Bobo chuckled a little. "Getting stabbed in the chest hurt pretty bad, but you got to do more than that to kill a demon."

"But…on the boat…you just vanished into thin air." Gray mentioned, still flabbergasted from this new development.

Suddenly, a pair of black, bat-like wings folded out from behind Bobo's shirt as he leaped into the air, hovering above them with his arms crossed.

"I sure hope you kids can forgive me for not telling you sooner." Bobo said.

"Whoa." Gray muttered. "He can fly?"

"I was the only one who didn't have any memory loss." Bobo explained. "I had to leave because everyone went nuts! I knew I was a demon, but everyone else thought that they were cursed humans." He then started laughing.

Finally, Moka couldn't take it anymore. "B-Bobo." He said. Then, a pair of wings folded out from behind his shirt as he soared into the air and wrapped his son up in a tight hug, tears rolling down his blue-skinned face.

Bobo hugged his father back, and said excitedly, "I'm so glad you snapped out of it, Pawps!"

The villagers all looked at each other and smiled widely, their memories finally returning. Similar bat-like wings appeared from their backs as they flew into the sky around Bobo and Moka, cheering in celebration of the returned Bobo.

All the Fairy Tail mages and Anodites looked up, happy smiles plastered across their faces.

"Yep, they're definitely demons." Erza commented.

"I don't know. When you look at their faces." Natsu pauses as he looked up at Moka crying in happiness for his son's return. "Well…they kinda look like angels to me."

...

Later, the village was throwing a big feast to rejoice in everyone regaining their former identities as demons. Ben and the Fairy Tail mages were guests of honor for helping them. Ben, Jack, Lucy, Erza, and Happy were at the large table along with the other villagers, eating what was surprisingly awesome food. Natsu was to the side devouring the fire on torches, which intentionally startled Ben until he remembered that he could actually _eat_ fire.

Ben looked up from his meal of cooked fish to see Gray sitting close to a hut, a clique of villager girls swooning around him with hearts in their eyes. The ice mage, meanwhile, sat there with flushed cheeks and a sheepish grin on his face. They eventually pulled Gray to his feet and were tugging him to what appeared to be a dance area.

 _'Looks like someone's popular.'_ Ben thought with a smile, remembering the time when his cousin was exposed and as a result he was exposed, Lucky Lad was not as popular as the aliens but boy did the fanatic fan girls make up for it. _'At least they're not trying to rip him apart.'_

Lucy, Erza, and Happy eventually saw this too and couldn't help but smile as well. "Looks like someone's getting some attention from the ladies." Lucy chuckled.

"They'll scare him off eventually." Happy shrugged.

Ben laughed a little from the cat's comment.

"Well…I have to admit I was wrong about humans." Moka said. The group turned to the village chief, who was sitting close to Ben along with Bobo. "All of these years we have chosen to hide from the outside world, afraid that they would judge us by our appearance."

"You know the curse," Bobo added, "that was actually a rumor we started so nobody would come to the island and bother us."

"Well it worked. The sailors at the dock didn't even want to come here." Ben replied.

"I know. It's a shame." Moka conceded. "But thanks to you, we have changed our minds. You have restored our faith in humans, and we are not afraid. We are ready to go out and make friends with people from other lands."

"That's good." Erza smiled. "Friendship is a beautiful thing. It's an emotional bond that transcends one's physical appearance."

Bobo chuckled in agreement while the others simply smiled, touched by Erza's words. Ben nodded; he couldn't agree more. He had made many friends over the years, most of them being aliens. No matter the appearances everybody deserved to be happy and accepted, except that rat the pink haired girl called love, that's where Ben drew the line.

The villagers continued their celebration; however, their party came to a screeching halt when three figures strolled into the village. The cheering and talking instantly stopped, some even gasped, when they saw who three people were, Sherry, Yuka, and Toby.

The girls huddled around a shirtless Gray were obviously scared. "What should we do?" One whispered.

"I'll take care of this." Gray said steely, standing up.

Ben and the other Fairy Tail wizards stopped what they were doing and gazed hard at the three former baddies. Erza stood up immediately, the Queen of the Fairies glared hard at the trio.

"Can we help you?" Ben asked sardonically.

"You, energy-user, and your friends from Fairy Tail are tough." Yuka commented, a smug grin on his face. "The Cold Emperor was so banged up he couldn't make it down here."

"That's why we've come to pay you a visit in his place." Sherry added coldly.

Toby only barked in agreement.

"Wait just a minute!" Lucy yelled, getting to her feet. "I thought we were cool. Didn't Lyon tell you what happened?!"

"Yes." Yuka answered. "But that doesn't matter to us."

"We wanted to settle things with you ourselves." Sherry said.

"By the way, I'm still peeved about you making me paralyze myself!" Toby shouted, directing his gaze to Ben who merely rose a brow.

Erza's brown eyes narrowed at the three. ' _Surely they didn't come here to fight'_ she thought.

Natsu stepped forward, an eager grin plastered across his face. "Alright," he let up his right fist with fire. "Show me what you got!"

"Yeah." Gray also came forward, his hand already closing in together. "We're ready for anything you three can dish out."

"Natsu, Gray, wait!" Bobo called, gaining their attention. "As much as we appreciate it, we can't keep letting you fight our battles. We'll take care of this."

"Yeah." A villager behind Chief Moka and Bob cried. "Let us handle these clowns."

"Normally I'd agree with you, gentlemen." Erza said. "But I believe it's best if I handle this one."

The scarlet haired wizard sauntered toward Sherry, Yuka, and Toby, stopping a fair distance in front of them.

"We meet again, Titania of Fairy Tail." Sherry said. "You gave poor Angelica a pretty good beating earlier."

"She seems like a formidable opponent." Yuka sneered smugly. 

Eyebrows is really getting on Ben's nerves, he has such punchable face, Kevin would have said had the other teen been here.

Toby didn't say anything, he only grinned.

Erza said nothing; she only stared hard at the three minions of Lyon.

"Watch out for that creepy chick!" Lucy warned. "She can control inanimate objects."

"And don't even bother using your magic on, Mega-Brows." Natsu added offhandedly.

"Don't worry about dog-boy." Ben said. "All you have to do is trick him into paralyzing himself."

"Hey!" Toby shouted indignantly.

"I see," Erza replied calmly. "In that case." The redhead broke off into a sprint straight toward the trio. "I'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way!"

Erza ran up and delivered a forceful kick into a surprised Sherry, sending her flying back. She quickly spun and connected her left elbow with Yuka's face, forcing him to the ground with a thud. She turned to face Toby, who was backing up with wide eyes and sweat forming around his brows. Before the dog-man could react, Erza sent a wicked haymaker into Toby's face that sent him crashing to the ground right by Sherry and Yuka.

With her opponents subdued, the villagers, Ben, and other Fairy Tail members looked on in awe and shock from the quick spectacle.

"Whoa," Ben gaped, astonished by what he had witnessed. "She's giving me flashbacks." He remembered the time where Kevin was out of commission and he was to tired to fight, Gwen karate-ed her way through bunch of DNAliens to get them out of the cave.

"Wow! She beat them without having to use magic." Lucy gaped.

"That's the mighty Erza for yah." Happy chimed.

"Would you cut that out already?" The annoyed blonde girl requested.

With pain-filled grunts, the trio slowly got back to their feet. Shockingly, Sherry smiled as she steadily got up. "You're truly an amazing warrior." She complimented.

As Yuka stood up, he wiped a trickle of blood off his mouth. "No kidding. We're no match for you." He added.

When Toby arose, his eyes were still spinning. "Roooooah…ain't that the truth."

Everyone eyed the trio conspicuously, shocked that they weren't fighting back.

"W-wait," Lucy stuttered, "you're not here to fight?"

Surprisingly, the three wizards looked to the ground with albeit shameful expressions.

"I doubt this is going to make up for all the bad things we did…but we wanted to apologize in person." Yuka confessed sincerely.

"Ooooh…so you came here to settle things in a good way." Happy realized.

"The Cold Emperor told us everything." Sherry said. "Thanks to you we can finally let go of the pain that Deliora caused us so many years ago."

"You mean…" Gray paused. "You were victims of Deliora too?"

"When we were children a monster ravaged our village. We watched it murder all our friends and family." Yuka explained.

"The Cold Emperor had a plan to kill the demon once for all." Toby continued. "That's why we followed him."

"You see." Yuka said. "We wanted revenge. And we were so focused on getting it, we didn't realize we were hurting innocent people."

"We were so blinded by our hatred that we didn't act any better than the demon itself. For now on, we'll treat other people with respect…and love." Sherry said.

Ben looked at the three wizards with sympathy. He felt bad for them. Losing all your friends and family had to be devastating, especially as a child. No wonder they resorted to extreme measures.

"Alright then!" Natsu exclaimed happily. The pink haired mage appeared behind the trio, laying a hand on Sherry's and Toby's shoulders and bringing them in closer until they squished Yuka in the middle. "You guys should stick around and join in on the feast, eh?"

"But…we were enemies a second ago." Yuka mentioned, startled by this sudden change of attitude.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea because I'm trying to watch my figure and…"

Sherry's rant was cut short as Natsu squeezed them together closer. "Enough of the excuses, live a little will yah?!"

Seconds later, Natsu dragged them until they were seated at a table. They held their drinks in fear, the demons around them all staring at the trio.

"Alright! Now we're ready to party!" Natsu shouted.

And just like that, the celebration continued. Ben stared at the partying wizards and demons. _'Even if I this world is really strange...it's really not that bad..'_

...

Outside the village not too far away, perched in a tree was a short man with long, shaggy green hair and wore a demon-like mask that concealed the upper half of his face. Floating beside him was a bluish-purple orb.

Zalty grinned wickedly. He had witnessed everything that had taken place in the village. Without looking at the orb, the man asked, "Were you able to see all that, sir?"

" _Yes. Why did you restore the village?"_ A smooth male voice came from the orb.

The green-haired man turned and gave the orb a 'thumbs up', still smiling. "Cause I'm nice."

" _Hmm…some might say too nice. You better leave before they find you. Those Fairy Tail wizards and the energy-user that was with them could pose a threat if they get in our way."_

Zalty grinned. He reached up for his mask and pulled it off, revealing a young man with spikey black hair. However, his form was then shrouded by bright white light. When the light faded, in the place of the man…was a woman. She had long raven hair and wore a white dress.

She stood up, still gazing at the village. "That is true." She replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I think there's only one other chapter to end the Galuna arc.
> 
> Thx for reading!


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